Southern Health Trust resolves IT issues, but disruption continues
The cause of the outage is still being investigated
Last updated 18th Sep 2025
Northern Ireland’s Southern Health Trust has fixed IT issues that led to ambulances being diverted and hospital appointments being cancelled yesterday.
Hospitals in the Trust area include Daisy Hill in Newry and Craigavon Area.
Most planned surgeries and out-patient appointments remain cancelled today and will be rescheduled, with people still being asked only to come to Emergency Departments if absolutely necessary.
The Trust has apologised for the disruption.
The cause of the outage is still being investigated but it’s not thought to be a cyber attack.
A statement from Southern Trust last night said, “We can confirm that the IT issues which have caused disruption to our services today (Wed) have been resolved and all systems have been restored.”
“We will be testing our systems overnight and they will be reconnected in a phased manner tomorrow (Thursday).”
“Whilst community services are expected to operate as normal tomorrow (Thurs), unfortunately, most planned surgeries and out-patient hospital appointments remain cancelled.”
“Staff have contacted affected patients, and we will reschedule all appointments and surgery as soon as possible.”
“The ambulance divert has now been stood down for Daisy Hill Hospital, however Craigavon Area Hospital remains under significant pressure, therefore a divert will remain in place until later this evening (Wednesday).”
“We are hugely grateful for the support of NIAS, other Trusts and the wider HSC system who have been supporting us throughout the day.”
“It will take some time for normal business to be fully restored, and we sincerely apologise once again for the disruption.”
“We ask that people avoid coming to our Emergency Departments unless absolutely necessary as we continue to prioritise critical care at this time.”
“The cause of the outage is still being investigated, however there is nothing to indicate any cyber related issues.”
“We would like to thank our staff who continue to do everything possible to keep every patient and service user safe as we work to recover from this outage.”