Microsoft disruption affects UK health, education and police services

A global Microsoft outage disrupted NHS services, schools, police forces, pharmacies and businesses across the UK after email and messaging systems went down. Microsoft said services were gradually being restored, but the scale of the impact and the time needed for a full recovery remained unclear.

NHS England advised patients to attend appointments unless told otherwise, and to use 999 in emergencies or contact 111 for other urgent needs; some GP practices asked patients to phone or visit instead. Pharmacies warned of longer waits and prescription delays, while police forces said online reporting forms might not work. Microsoft said unusually high stress on its servers caused the problem, which affected Outlook, Teams and Copilot, tools used by about 430 million people worldwide.