HEALTH services across Gloucestershire have been impacted by the global IT issues. 

Major infrastructure including airlines, railways, banks and media outlets ground to a halt after computer systems were knocked offline, and devices were showing the so-called “blue screen of death”.

The outage was “causing disruption in the majority of GP practices” in England but there was no known impact on 999 or emergency services, NHS England said.

The health service said patients should attend appointments unless told otherwise and should only contact their GP in urgent cases.

A spokesperson for NHS Gloucestershire said: “Some of our NHS IT systems have been affected by the global IT issues.

"IT systems at a small number of GP surgeries are currently impacted and we kindly ask that people only call their surgery if they have an urgent medical need until the issue is resolved.

"Some community pharmacies are also experiencing IT issues so please be patient and understanding.

"During this time please continue to attend your GP or hospital appointment unless you are advised otherwise, use NHS 111 online or the 111 phone service if you are not sure on your care options.

"The local ASAP Glos NHS website and app also provide information on local services, including how to access Community Minor Injury and Illness Unit services use 999 in a life or limb threatening emergency.

"Thank you for your understanding and for being patient with local healthcare teams who are doing their best to ensure people with the most urgent health needs are seen first.

"We will provide further updates as necessary.”

Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike is “actively working” to fix a “defect” in an update for Microsoft Windows users which sparked a global IT outage, the company’s chief executive has said.

CrowdStrike chief executive George Kurtz said Mac and Linux users were not impacted by the fault and it was “not a security incident or cyber attack”.