Month: November 2024

GPs couldn’t treat patients, people were stranded as planes couldn’t get off the ground, and small businesses lost much-needed sales.Two months on from the global IT outage on 19 July, its full impact is only now becoming apparent.A rogue software update by the US cybersecurity company CrowdStrike crippled up to eight and half million computers using Microsoft systems around the world.Adam Meyers – a senior executive at CrowdStrike – will testify at the US Congress on Tuesday.He will speak of being “deeply sorry” about what happened, and his company’s determination to “prevent it from happening again.”But what was it like for those on the sharp end of the crisis?Dr David Wrigley, a GP for the past 22 years, told the BBC about cancer referrals being delayed as the online systems doctors like him rely on went dark.”It was a very difficult period of time with very little help and support,” he said.Dr David Wrigley has called on NHS England and the UK government to provide GPs with much more support if this ever happened againFor many GPs, they were unable to use the EMIS system – a digital way of managing appointment bookings and patient records, as well as sending prescriptions to pharmacies.The British Medical Association – the trade union and professional body for doctors and medical students in the UK – said the CrowdStrike outage was “one of the toughest single days in recent times for GPs across England”, with doctors forced to return to pen and paper.At Dr Wrigley’s practice in Carnforth, Lancashire, computer problems continued between Friday and Monday.He said this created a backlog that delayed urgent tasks such as writing referral letters for patients with suspected cancers.In some cases, this would have been delayed by “three or four days”.”You have to prioritise those and send them as soon as possible,” he said.”All the referrals we do are done electronically – that couldn’t happen.”In her 27 years as a GP, Dr Frances O’Hagan says the only disruption similar to the CrowdStrike outage was Covid and a bomb scare outside her practice in Armagh during the TroublesElsewhere, the BMA said there were also major problems in Northern Ireland.Around 75% of GPs in Northern Ireland use the EMIS system according to Dr Frances O’Hagan, the chair of BMA’s Northern Ireland GP committee.”We couldn’t do anything for most people,” she said.”We just had to take it on the chin and get on with it.”She said GPs in Northern Ireland faced similar backlogs to colleagues in England, including a delay to suspected cancer referrals.The Department of Health told the BBC it is in discussion with “external suppliers” to strengthen “continuity arrangements” following the CrowdStrike outage.It says GPs had access to “local copies” of patient data from EMIS during the outage, and all other systems worked.Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, told the BBC it was “crucial” that there should be “safeguards in place” in the future.In Surrey, 50 patients who were due to receive radiotherapy treatment on the day of the outage were forced to reschedule.A spokesperson from NHS Royal Surrey Trust said all urgent cases were seen within 24 hours.NHS England did not comment.The UK government told BBC News contingency plans were quickly enacted, and said it is working with NHS England to help prevent similar incidents.On the west coast of the United States, meanwhile, Providence healthcare operates 53 hospitals and over 1,000 clinics.Adam Zoller is in charge of cyber security for the company.He describes the first few hours as “a catastrophe” for hospital IT systems, but 80% were fixed in 48 hours.The hospitals did cancel non-emergency procedures, but Adam said “in large parts patient care was unaffected”.”CrowdStrike could have handled this in a lot of different ways, and I think they handled it as well as they could have.EPAThese passengers at Eindhoven Airport in the Netherlands were among the many travellers disrupted by the CrowdStrike outageMelanie Cree and her husband Alan, from Bangor in Northern Ireland, were due to fly home from Corfu Airport on the day of the outage.Travel operators were forced to cancel thousands of flights across the world – and Melanie and Alan’s flight was axed.After being taken to and from the airport several times in the next few days, they managed to fly home on Monday.Melanie and Alan had been on a two-week holiday on the Greek island with friends to enjoy their 40th wedding anniversaryMelanie said passengers were given no food, and some ran out of medication.”It totally ruined what should have been our dream holiday,” she said.”We have lovely memories, but we came back absolutely shattered. It was complete chaos.”Their provider Tui gave them a £400 voucher.Laura Jones, pictured with her family on their holiday in Rhodes, said the whole experience has put her off foreign travel for a whileAs Melanie and Alan struggled in Corfu, another UK family were caught up in the delays just over 500 miles (804km) away.Laura and Malcolm Jones were struggling to return home to Pontypool, in south Wales, after a holiday in Rhodes with their children.When they were on the tarmac, the flight was cancelled. Laura told the BBC there was no information, no return of bags, and no plan.They spent 16 hours at the airport before they were taken to a conference centre, where frustrated travellers used tablecloths as blankets.The family paid £560 out of their own pockets to fly back to the UK a few days later.Tui has given them a £600 voucher.”I was looking forward to travelling abroad again after Covid, but I think I might just stick going to west Wales for a few years,” Laura joked.In a statement, Tui apologised to its customers.The CrowdStrike outage had an impact at airports around the world, with these weary passengers pictured in Detroit, MichiganBut the travel company was not the only one with problems. Delta Airlines in the United States faced a huge impact.It cancelled around 7,000 flights over five days, faces an investigation from the US authorities and is involved in several legal actions.Back in the UK, small business owner Dawn Watts from Market Drayton, Staffordshire was caught up in the outages in a different way – her website, which provides supplies to cleaning companies and hotels, was out of action.She estimates to have lost about £600 in sales.”It is extremely worrying,” she said.”I am a sole trader – I can’t have this happening again.”Dawn Watts was particularly worried by the CrowdStrike outage, as she didn’t have the support of a big company behind her.Hannah Al-Khaldi, who runs a boutique fitness studio in London, faced similar issues with a non-functional website.She estimates the outage cost her £1,000.”It showed how many systems worldwide had put their eggs in one basket,” she said.”When one link in the chain fails, everything else goes down.”Is there enough choice out there for providers, or was CrowdStrike the only option?”

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Suspected methanol poisoning from tainted drinks has reportedly killed six tourists in a Laos holiday town in the past fortnight.A British woman, two Australian women, a US man and two Danish nationals have died. The deaths remain under police investigation, but reports suggest they may have consumed drinks tainted with methanol, a deadly substance often found in bootleg alcohol.Methanol poisoning has long been a well-known issue across South East Asia, particularly in the poorer countries along the Mekong river.But despite foreign governments posting warnings about alcohol consumption in these places, there is still little awareness among the backpacker party scene.Flavourless and colourless, methanol is hard to detect in drinks and victims typically don’t see symptoms of poisoning straight away.And in countries like Laos – one of the poorest and least developed in Asia – the problem arises from alcohol suppliers exploiting an environment where there is low law enforcement and almost no regulation in food and hospitality industries.What is methanol poisoning?Methanol is a toxic alcohol used in industrial and household products like paint thinners, antifreeze, varnish and photocopier fluid.It is colourless and has a similar smell to ethyl alcohol – the chemical substance found in alcoholic drinks.But methanol is dangerous for humans and drinking just 25ml or half a shot can be lethal.It can take up to 24 hours for victims to start showing signs of illness which include: nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain which can escalate into hyperventilation and breathing problems.If not treated, fatality rates are often reported to be 20% to 40%, depending on the concentration of methanol and the amount taken, says international medical charity Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF) which tracks the number of global outbreaks.But if a poisoning is diagnosed quickly enough, ideally within the first 30 hours, treatment can reduce some of the worse effects.How common is the problem in South East Asia?Asia has the highest prevalence of methanol poisoning worldwide, according to MSF’s database.It mainly affects poorer countries- outbreaks are common in Indonesia, India, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines.Indonesia is regarded as the hotspot – it has reported the highest number of incidents in the past two decades, according to MSF, largely down to the widespread production and consumption of bootleg liquor.Towns like Vang Vieng in Laos, where the fatal poisonings took place, are known stops on the backpacking trail through South East Asia. The town’s economy is built on tourism, with streets of bars, restaurants and hostels that cater to visitors.But in Laos, law enforcement is under-resourced and there are few regulations around food and alcohol standards. There is also an industry of home-brewed alcohol, which can lead to accidental poisonings.Producers also make counterfeit drinks with methanol instead of ethanol because it is cheaper, say local observers.”You have the unscrupulous producer adding methanol to their drinks because it’s cheaper – it’s used to create a stronger-seeming drink or make lower-quality alcohol drinks seem more potent,” one Western diplomat in the region told the BBC.They said methanol poisonings were frequently reported to consulates across the region.However, a lack of data means it is hard to quantify the scale of the contamination, and where tainted drinks enter the supply chain.”I don’t think it’s nefarious bar owners going out of their way to poison tourists – that’s not good for them or their industry either,” the diplomat said.”It’s more about the production side – there being being low education, low regulation, people cutting corners.”What can be done about it?Some campaigners have sought to raise attention to the dangers before. Australian man Colin Ahearn runs a Facebook page called ‘Don’t Drink Spirits in Bali’ where he warns against mixed drinks like cocktails or drinks made from opened bottles of spirits.He told Australian media earlier this week that his page used to receive a submission a week about methanol poisoning across South East Asia.The diplomat said the risks of bootleg alcohol are well known among tourism operators and embassies, but a high-profile campaign is needed to inform tourists.”This horrific event will probably help educate people, but not solve the cause of the problem,” they added.Several Western governments updated their advice about alcohol dangers in South East Asia on their consulate and travel pages this week.They advise that contaminated drinks could include local home-brewed spirits, spirit-based drinks such as cocktails and even brand name alcohol.Sixth foreign tourist dies of suspected methanol poisoning in LaosBriton Simone White dies after suspected mass poisoning in LaosA dodgy holiday drink made me go blindDeath by ignorance, taboo and methanol

MNova ContentAPI Indian full-service carrier Vistara will operate its last flight on Monday, after nine years in existence.

A joint venture between Singapore Airlines and the Tata Sons, Vistara will merge with Tata-owned Air India to form a single entity with an expanded network and broader fleet.
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This means that all Vistara operations will be transferred to and managed by Air India, including helpdesk kiosks and ticketing offices. The process of migrating passengers with existing Vistara bookings and loyalty programmes to Air India has been under way over the past few months.

“As part of the merger process, meals, service ware and other soft elements have been upgraded and incorporates aspects of both Vistara and Air India,” an Air India spokesperson said in an email response.

Amid concerns that the merger could impact service standards, the Tatas have assured that Vistara’s in-flight experience will remain unchanged.

Known for its high ratings in food, service, and cabin quality, Vistara has built a loyal customer base and the decision to retire the Vistara brand has been criticised by fans, branding experts, and aviation analysts.

The consolidation was effectively done to clean up Vistara’s books and wipe out its losses, said Mark Martin, an aviation analyst.

Air India has essentially been “suckered into taking a loss-making airline” in a desperate move, he added.

“Mergers are meant to make airlines powerful. Never to wipe out losses or cover them.”

To be sure, both Air India and Vistara’s annual losses have reduced by more than half over the past year, and other operating metrics have improved too. But the merger process so far has been turbulent.

The exercise has been riddled with problems – from pilot shortages that have led to massive flight cancellations, to Vistara crew going on mass sick leave over plans to align their salary structures with Air India.

There have also been repeated complaints about poor service standards on Air India, including viral videos of broken seats and non-functioning inflight entertainment systems.

MNova ContentAPI Indian full-service carrier Vistara will operate its last flight on Monday, after nine years in existence.

A joint venture between Singapore Airlines and the Tata Sons, Vistara will merge with Tata-owned Air India to form a single entity with an expanded network and broader fleet.

This means that all Vistara operations will be transferred to and managed by Air India, including helpdesk kiosks and ticketing offices. The process of migrating passengers with existing Vistara bookings and loyalty programmes to Air India has been under way over the past few months.

“As part of the merger process, meals, service ware and other soft elements have been upgraded and incorporates aspects of both Vistara and Air India,” an Air India spokesperson said in an email response.

Amid concerns that the merger could impact service standards, the Tatas have assured that Vistara’s in-flight experience will remain unchanged.

Known for its high ratings in food, service, and cabin quality, Vistara has built a loyal customer base and the decision to retire the Vistara brand has been criticised by fans, branding experts, and aviation analysts.

The consolidation was effectively done to clean up Vistara’s books and wipe out its losses, said Mark Martin, an aviation analyst.

Air India has essentially been “suckered into taking a loss-making airline” in a desperate move, he added.

“Mergers are meant to make airlines powerful. Never to wipe out losses or cover them.”

To be sure, both Air India and Vistara’s annual losses have reduced by more than half over the past year, and other operating metrics have improved too. But the merger process so far has been turbulent.

The exercise has been riddled with problems – from pilot shortages that have led to massive flight cancellations, to Vistara crew going on mass sick leave over plans to align their salary structures with Air India.

There have also been repeated complaints about poor service standards on Air India, including viral videos of broken seats and non-functioning inflight entertainment systems.

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