TSJCI Annual Report 2021

Trinity St James’s Cancer Institute Annual Report 2021 35 Section 10 Special Circumstances 10.1 Information Management Systems (IMS) Cyber Attack On Friday morning 14 th May, 2021, the Health Service Executive (HSE) was subjected to a serious ransomware attack. The HSE and St James’s Hospital responses meant that access to all HSE hosted National IT Systems was disabled, and all external internet and email was turned off. St James’s Hospital main IT systems were unaffected (e.g. Patient Administration System, Electronic Patient Record, Lab System, ED Whiteboard, Critical Care Information System (ICCA)). Therefore, patients could still be admitted onto our IT systems and their care recorded as normal. Although the National Radiology System (NIMIS) was seriously, albeit briefly affected, the hospital’s business continuity plan meant that new diagnostic imaging of cancer patients could continue, with some delays and cancellations due to manual processes. However, during that period, new diagnostic images could not be compared directly with previous imaging as the latter was unavailable, and this caused difficulty in Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) evaluations and treatment assessment until the system was restored on Thursday 20 th May, 2021. 10.2 COVID-19 COVID-19 continued to place significant challenges on cancer care at St James’s Hospital during 2021, however despite the significant impact, patient care remained a priority throughout. Admissions for elective cancer surgeries were curtailed and delayed however we availed of offsite access in the private hospitals for time sensitive surgery. The delivery of systemic anticancer therapy (SACT) treatment and the delivery of the National Adult Stem Cell Transplant Programme continued with additional precautions in place. Staffing levels across the cancer multidisciplinary team were seriously impacted due to COVID-19 throughout 2021.