NHS launches blood donor appeal after hospital cyber attack

An urgent appeal has been launched for people with O-type blood to give blood following a ransomware attack last week on major London hospitals. The cyber-attack, which has been linked to Russian cybercriminal group Qilin, affected a pathology contractor used by the hospitals with the result that they cannot currently match patients’ blood at the usual speed. O-type blood is safe to use for all patients so donors with O-positive and O-negative blood are being asked to book into one of England’s 25 NHS blood donation centres. Medical students have also been reportedly asked to help out in managing the “critical incident” by hand-delivering blood tests. In 2022, a ransomware attack on a software provider disrupted the NHS’s 111 service and patient check-in.