Microsoft disruption impairs NHS, police and education services across Britain

A global Microsoft outage disrupted services at NHS hospitals and GP practices, police forces, schools and universities across the UK. Healthcare staff struggled to access email and other IT systems, while patients were warned that prescription waits could be longer, highlighting how heavily essential services rely on Microsoft technology.

The problems began late on Thursday afternoon, with thousands of users worldwide reporting issues with Outlook and other services. Microsoft said on Friday morning that it was seeing early signs of stabilisation, and an executive said the outage did not appear to be a cyber-attack. GMB said emergency and life-threatening ambulance callouts appeared unaffected; government engineers were working with Microsoft, and the Welsh government was preparing contingency plans.