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NSW Government: NSW Health, Service NSW hit by system outage

Computer systems used by NSW Health as well as other state agencies are down following problems at the government data centre at Silverwater. Delays are expected as a result.

Minister for Health Brad Hazzard is receiving updates on the issue
Minister for Health Brad Hazzard is receiving updates on the issue

Government systems across NSW have been hit this morning following what has been described as a “power issue” at the Government Data Centre.

A number of systems have been hit, notably those used by NSW Health and Service NSW.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard has spoken of his concern, adding “We are completely in the hands of the data experts”.

NSW residents are being told to expect delays, particularly at Service NSW Centres. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian
NSW residents are being told to expect delays, particularly at Service NSW Centres. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian

“Health is of particular concern for me, as Minister for Health,” Mr Hazzard said.

“I’m currently trying to find out when they will have it repaired.”

A staff member at Liverpool Hospital said software for documenting patient records was affected by the outage.

She said staff had to resort to using paper to document new patient information, but were still able to access old patient files on “downtime” computer systems.

She said today’s situation was a “rare” occurrence.

A spokesman for the Department of Customer Service added: “The NSW Government Data Centre at Silverwater experienced a power issue at 4am this morning.

“This has impacted a number of government systems across the State this morning, in particular NSW Health and Service NSW.

“Technical staff have been working to urgently bring systems back on line and are investigating the cause.

“It is not believed to be a cyber security incident.

Hospitals have also been hit, including RPA Camperdown, pictured. Picture: Bill Hearne
Hospitals have also been hit, including RPA Camperdown, pictured. Picture: Bill Hearne

“Service NSW customers should expect some delays to a number of services. NSW Health has put local business continuity processes in place. No patient data is affected by the outage and patient safety is unaffected while systems are rebooted.”

The NSW Health website has been down this morning with users greeted with a blank page with the message “Cannot connect to the configuration database”.

Shortly before 4pm a NSW Health spokeswoman said some systems were starting to come back online.

“NSW Health relies on the data centre to support digital aspects of health service delivery,” she added.

“All NSW hospitals have backup processes in place to ensure patient care can continue to be provided during the outage and these processes have been activated. No patient data has been breached by the outage and patient clinical care continues to be provided.”

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/blacktown-advocate/nsw-government-nsw-health-service-nsw-hit-by-system-outage/news-story/228a7b5a8c466d761009c455961f6c22