oi’ or they have an relative or they have an appointment, they are unsure what to do crucially tonight, what is the key advice for patients, poor relatives if they have appointments coming up or they have relatives in hospital? what are they saying? the trust is saying, if you need to go to accident and emergency, please think twice about that. they are also saying they are investigating this problem. the key thing to do is to check with the hospital department is the if you can attend your appointment and they will advise you further. the key advice is, if you need accident and emergency, think twice, do you really need to be there? doctors i have heard from patients seem to be dealing with this as best they can, but people are being told they records can't be accessed by the doctors trying to treat them. thanks very much indeed. the latest there in york. it is interesting, talking about the variable nature of this, the extent to which places are or not are not affected. interesting information just not are not affected. interesting informationjust coming not are not affected. interesting information just coming through from

hull and east yorkshire hospitals trust which is interesting, saying, probably confirm we have detected malware on our system but at present it happened had a significant impact on our organisation. we have blocked all incoming e—mail for the on our organisation. we have blocked all incoming e—mailfor the time being and no patient systems are affected, so they have detected some malware but it would appear, mercifully, so far that patients have not been affected. northumbria university hospital trust and the cumbria partnership foundation nhs trust both confirming they have been affected but no greater details on the scale of that. again, it is very, very interesting that it varies enormously depending where you are in the country and some trusts, some hospitals have not been affected at all, so it is a very, very variable picture. we've been hearing from chris maguire who is a pharmacist as a gp practice in yorkshire. he told my colleague, ben

brown, about the situation facing them there. we've had to turn off oui’ them there. we've had to turn off our computers at about quarter to three. we've had to print out patient summaries on paper notes so we can see patients this afternoon. we are still seeing them and recording everything on paper notes which will be uploaded onto their medical records whenever we have proper access again, whenever that is. have you ever seen a cyber attack like this? no, it's the first time. i've been working in the nhs and its the best time i've seen anything like this. are you seeing on your computer screen this ra nsomwa re demand on your computer screen this ransomware demand on the screen? no, we turned our computers off more as prevention, i guess, we turned our computers off more as prevention, iguess, but we turned our computers off more as prevention, i guess, buti we turned our computers off more as prevention, i guess, but i have seen some gp colleagues sharing on twitter the ransom note within their practices, so i've seen it, but tha nkfully practices, so i've seen it, but thankfully i turned off before it affected us. so, how big an impact is this happening on what you do

that? we are still able to see the patience and still trying to do the bestjob patience and still trying to do the best job possible, so patience and still trying to do the bestjob possible, so we are just taking them on what they are saying about their sentence and trying to manage that. if we are not co mforta ble manage that. if we are not comfortable with any of the decisions that we need to make, we are asking them to come back again next week. it's slightly inconvenient for them but we are making sure we are getting everything right. it's interesting, and number of hospitals telling us they haven't been affected at all, but equally, quite a lot have and a lot of gp surgeries have. what do you think of the people who mount a cyber attack like this? it seems pretty clear it is a demand for money and we were hearing earlier this is a big business nowadays, international criminal gangs making a lot of money from this kind of ransom demand, but to attack the

national health service hospitals, gp surgeries, what do you think of the people behind it?|j gp surgeries, what do you think of the people behind it? i think it's a disgrace, to be honest. it's peoples life and their care and it's been reported so far that patients may not be able to get proper care and it could be costing lives, which is a despicable act by those behind it. do you have any idea when you might be able to get your it services back up be able to get your it services back up and running again? no, we have no breath —— no recommendations as to when we can get things back up and running. chris maguire there speaking just a short while ago, a pharmacist at a gp practice in yorkshire. we've also heard from robert, who says he used to be a computer hacker. he is now the editor of the it safety website security smart and he's been explaining how quickly viruses and ra nsomwa re can explaining how quickly viruses and ransomware can spread. explaining how quickly viruses and

ransomware can spread. if you're a computer user, you probably got your e—mail system and your address book and contacts list and if you wanted to send any now to all your contacts, all you have to do is file up contacts, all you have to do is file up youre—mail programme contacts, all you have to do is file up your e—mail programme and it will do that automatically. what this ra nsomwa re does is do that automatically. what this ransomware does is exactly the same. once it's on your computer, it fires up once it's on your computer, it fires up youre—mailand send once it's on your computer, it fires up your e—mail and send a copy of itself to all your contacts, they click on the link, they are now affected, their files get encrypted and it sends itself to all of their contacts and it sends itself to all of their co nta cts as and it sends itself to all of their contacts as well. the more we link our computers together, the more we say, let's link our computers on network, back—up to the cloud, the more we are at risk. if you have cloud —based back—up on home computer or office computer, you can get to your dropbox or one drive with one click and so can the malware. as soon with one click and so can the malware. as soon 3s with one click and so can the malware. as soon as you with one click and so can the malware. as soon 3s you are infected, as soon as the malware has affected the hard disk, it will then go and encrypt what you think are your back—ups on your cloud and you

have lost those as well. we have also heard from doctor tarik sardar, who is an accident and emergency doctor at kings mill hospital in the midlands. he explained the impact where he works. i think in terms of managing my patients here in the accident and emergency department, i had a lady today who had severe back pain which could potentially pa ralyse pain which could potentially paralyse her down below her legs and we had to divert her to the queens medical centre for further management. it has also affected us in terms that we have had to go back to paperwork for x—rays and blood tests a nd to paperwork for x—rays and blood tests and documentation on the patient notes. it's getting a bit difficult for us because we've got a

flood of patients here and it takes an awful lot of time for us to process the information on our paper system. what do you think of people who would launch a cyber attack like this on hospitals and gp surgeries? i think they are a bunch of, what would i say, coward sitting behind a screen, trying to disturb people's lives and risking it forjeep gains in terms of money. and i hate to say that unfortunately, although i can confirm we have the best health system in the world, and i am proud to be part of it, and for some idiot to be part of it, and for some idiot to try to mess us about, i'm sure the consequences for them would be very grave. that is once they find out who is behind this. we have just

got a statement in from the patients' association. they are effectively saying, today's attack may be the biggest, but it isn't the first and probably won't be the last, and really saying that we should look now for more spending on the cost to defend the national health service in terms of it technology, to defend against cyber attacks like this and the patients' association is saying now is not the time to be squeamish about the cost of keeping our nhs secure. would you agree with those sentiments, that it does maybe require some more spending on it defence in the nhs? yes, sir. i have a lot of it background, i use a lot of computers despite being a doctor —— beside being a doctor and i can tell you

the it system here is brilliant, the people working behind it are very intelligent. the problem is, we need more sophisticated systems, more secure. to be honest, i don't want to get into a proper conversation and have people get upset with me if i recommend different systems for our nhs system, but i think maybe abroad they are more secure. the a nswer to abroad they are more secure. the answer to your question is, yes, we need more money to be spent on the it systems and today is the biggest example for us. well, that was doctored tarik sardar who is an accident and emergency doctor in the west midlands. let's talk to nhs providers, because that's the body that represents the nhs trusts in england. i know there's an awful lot going on for you tonight and if you

are able to summarise for our viewers what your understanding is of the picture tonight? our understanding is that it's around 21 hospitals who have now been affected by the cyber attack up and down the country. we've also heard of gp practices and other parts of the health service that have been attacked, universities as well, and that this is the widespread attack across europe. this is part of a very big attack, i believe. just to reiterate, deduce a 41 hospitals? 21. but you are saying other areas are affected as well? we have heard that gps, pharmacies and universities are all also affected. the important thing to remember here is that trusts will be working absolutely flat out to resolve this as quickly as they can. they will deal with this as they deal with any

other incident, which is to be straight on it operationally, to make sure they can get their systems up make sure they can get their systems up and running as speedily as possible and they will be helping each other out. one hospital that is affected whilst another one isn't, they will divert the accident and emergency patients to another department, for example, we have heard of battle ready. we know there will be a lot of support across the system to make sure hospital trusts are system to make sure hospital trusts a re really system to make sure hospital trusts are really doing their best for patients. it's very hard to have a broad brush approach because some parts of the country at —— aren't affected at all, some are affected worse than others, but for anyone watching tonight, what is your advice? i suppose we should start with emergency cases, for anyone who is unwell this weekend, what is your advice? our advice is for anyone out of hours, if you are seriously unwell, you should call 999 as normal and your emergency will be dealt with. if you have a less

serious condition but you are concerned, you should call nhs111 and you will be told what to do. if your local accident and emergency have to be closed, another one will be available to treat emergency patients. how confident can you be at this stage about that contingency planning, because, for example, iam thinking about a gpo spoke to in the last hour he said, well, i can see a patient, i can my best, but we can't access their notes or their recent notes because they are all held online. if that patient doesn't remember their medication, that creates another layer of difficulty. what is your response to people in those sorts of positions? of course people will be concerned and worried but i think what they have to bear in mind is that trusts will do everything they can to treat them

safely and they will make sure that their safety is not put at risk. when someone turns up at accident and emergency in one part of the country, they will be treated in the same way as they would in another pa rt same way as they would in another part of the country, so i think it's absolutely critical that people remember in an emergency situation, they will receive critical care. we know this is a very unfortunate situation, and some non—emergency procedures have had to be cancelled. that is absolutely right. if it is not possible to carry something out safely, then it will not be done, andi safely, then it will not be done, and i think the public needs to be aware that safety is paramount in this situation. saffron cordery, thank you very much. continuing coverage of this throughout the evening on bbc news. just to tell you if you have tuned in at this point is to be film review which we would normally have, that will be coming up tonight at 9:30pm. more on the nhs story to come. we will pause for the weather. good evening. it is

very mixed bag out there, quite a bit of cloud, rain for some, and we will still see a scattering of showers as we head into the overnight period. the south—eastern corner, largely dry. most of the rain is likely to be further north and west and for the north—east of the uk, quite cool and quite great. extensive low cloud with mist and fog as well. not a cold night. most places around ten, 11 or 12 degrees to stop the. we start the weekend with a fair bit of cloud, outbreaks of rain in the north east, not too many showers for the midlands or the south—east. here, we will see the highest of the temperatures, around 1920 degrees. out west, we see a band of wet, windy weather making its way through overnight and sunday will be a mix of sony baths and showers. —— sunny spells and showers. the nhs is the victim

of a major cyber attack. at least 25 hospitals trusts and gp surgeries have been affected. routine operations at some hospitals are being cancelled, patients sent home and ambulances diverted. the gentleman inside the door said that all the computers had gone down and we are not sure whether the doctors can see you for whatever reason, if it is x—rays, breakages, what have you, they are going to send you home. the cyber attack is a form of ransomware in which hospitals are being asked to pay money in order to restore their computer systems. the nhs is vulnerable because typically it has not invested enough in computer security, they use old computers, old systems, if they don't keep them wobbly patch, they will keep getting hit by attacks like this. —— if they