Staff in hospitals and primary care trusts across the Midlands and the North West have had to record patient movement using pens and paper following a 48-hour blackout of their booking system.

Staff in hospitals and primary care trusts across the Midlands and the North West have had to record patient movement using pens and paper following a 48-hour blackout of their booking system.

Eighty trusts across the two regions lost their computer system from 10am on Sunday following a power failure at the Kent headquarters of CSC Alliance, which provides the booking service to the North West and Midlands cluster of trusts.

CSC Alliance holds a 10-year contract to provide the administrative system for the region. An NHS Connecting for Health spokesperson said this was the first serious problem since the contract had been signed.

Any effect on patient care was largely avoided, but staff at the trusts affected had to revert to manual systems described as 'time-consuming and cumbersome' to log admissions and transfers.

As HSJwent to press, the system was starting to be restored in the first of the trusts.

Topics