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GPs, police and pharmacies among UK services affected by Microsoft outage

GPs, police and pharmacies among UK services affected by Microsoft outage

Also reported by Newsweek, France24, Guardian World, Al Jazeera, ABC News

Full coverage (6 outlets)

Summary

A global outage affecting Microsoft services, including Outlook, Teams and Copilot, disrupted communications for some UK GP surgeries, pharmacies, police forces and teachers. Microsoft said server strain caused the problem and that its fixes were not working as expected; officials were assessing the impact on government services.

Key Facts

  • Some GP surgeries asked patients not to use their websites to send messages and directed people with urgent needs to phone or visit.
  • The National Pharmacy Association said the outage affected communication between pharmacies, GP practices and some patients, potentially delaying waits and prescriptions.
  • Several police forces said online reporting forms might not work and urged people to call 101 about time-critical, non-emergency matters.
  • Some teachers reported being unable to access calendars, emails and files stored on cloud servers.
  • The London Ambulance Service said its critical platforms were unaffected because they do not use Microsoft.
  • Heathrow, Manchester and Stansted airports were operating as usual, and UK intelligence operations were understood to be unaffected.
  • Microsoft said server strain followed the unexpected unavailability of a large number of servers, redirecting traffic to those still online.
  • Microsoft and cybersecurity experts ruled out a cyberattack as the cause.
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