17th September 2025
Read the latest updates below with regards to the IT Systems Outage
Friday 19th September 2025
Time: 16:30
Written statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly by Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt –
Southern Trust IT outage
Friday 19th September 2025
Time: 15:00
Helpline
For patients whose appointments or surgery has been postponed as a result of the IT issues.
Lines open until 8pm this evening and Saturday 9am – 1pm.
028 3756 0009
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Thursday 18th September 2025
Time: 14:30
The IT issues which caused disruption to our services have been resolved and the phased restart is complete.
All surgeries and outpatient appointments scheduled for tomorrow, Friday 19 September, will take place as planned.
Community services are also operating as normal.
Staff have contacted all patients whose appointments were cancelled this week, and we are working hard to reschedule these as soon as possible.
It will take some time for normal business to be fully restored, and we sincerely apologise once again to every patient and service user who has been affected by the disruption.
The cause of the outage is still being investigated. We have requested a full technical analysis from our system provider in order to understand how the outage happened.
This will inform wider root cause investigations which are already underway. There is nothing to indicate any cyber related issues.
We are hugely grateful for the support of NIAS, other Trusts and the wider HSC system who have been supporting us this week. We would also like to thank our local political representatives and other partner organisations who kindly offered assistance.
We again thank our dedicated staff who are working hard to ensure that we recover as quickly as possible from this issue and minimise any ongoing impact for patients.
A helpline is available until 8pm this evening for patients who have been affected by the disruption.
Telephone 028 3756 0009
Time: 11:30
Helpline
For patients whose appointments have been postponed as a result of the IT issues.
Lines will be open until 8pm this evening.
028 3756 0009.
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Wednesday 17th September 2025
Time: 22:00
We can confirm that the IT issues which have caused disruption to our services today have been resolved and all systems have been restored.
We will be testing our systems overnight and they will be reconnected in a phased manner tomorrow (Thursday).
Whilst community services are expected to operate as normal tomorrow, unfortunately, most planned surgeries and out-patient hospital appointments remain cancelled.
Staff have contacted affected patients, and we will reschedule all appointments and surgery as soon as possible.
The ambulance divert has now been stood down for Daisy Hill Hospital, however Craigavon Area Hospital remains under significant pressure, therefore a divert will remain in place until later this evening (Wednesday).
We are hugely grateful for the support of NIAS, other Trusts and the wider HSC system who have been supporting us throughout the day.
It will take some time for normal business to be fully restored, and we sincerely apologise once again for the disruption.
We ask that people avoid coming to our Emergency Departments unless absolutely necessary as we continue to prioritise critical care at this time.
The cause of the outage is still being investigated, however there is nothing to indicate any cyber related issues.
We would like to thank our staff who continue to do everything possible to keep every patient and service user safe as we work to recover from this outage.
The Trust is continuing to experience significant issues with our IT systems which are having an impact on our services.
We apologise for any disruption. Staff are working hard to resume services as soon as possible. Further updates will be provided in due course.
Time: 10.00am
The Trust is currently experiencing significant issues with our IT systems which are having an impact on our services.
Ambulance diverts have been put in place whilst work continues to further investigate and resolve the issues.
We are prioritising emergency and critically ill patients at this time.
Any other patients should not come to their appointments at any hospital or community services today until further notice.
We ask that people avoid coming to our hospitals and other sites but visiting a patient is still possible.
Further updates will be provided in due course.