A global IT outage has hit hospitals and GP practices in east and north Hertfordshire.

In a statement published at 12.30pm today (Friday, July 19), Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) confirmed that the outage has had an impact on their services.

They confirmed that a "handful" of GP practices in the area were affected, and that the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust-run Lister Hospital in Stevenage and New QEII in Welwyn Garden City are also affected.

Some Hertfordshire pharmacies have been hit too, with difficulties being experienced accessing prescriptions from GPs and possible disruption to some medicine deliveries.

A spokesperson for the ICB said that "measures are in place to manage the disruption", including using paper records and handwritten prescriptions.

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They asked patients to continue attending planned appointments unless they are directly contacted.

Patients who were intending to contact their GP today about routine health issues are asked to wait until next week when they "hope to have systems back up and running".

Urgent treatment centres in Hertfordshire are expected to be "particularly busy" throughout the day, with patients warned of a "long wait" if they need to attend.

The ICB spokesperson said: "There may be some delays and your patience will be appreciated. Practices that are affected are contacting patients to keep them informed.

"Please be patient with NHS staff in all services who are working hard to support patients at this challenging time."

There is currently no known impact on NHS 999 calls, so people should call 999 in a life or limb-threatening emergency, as usual.

Health advice can be found at www.nhs.uk or by visiting NHS 111 online.