IT outage: The GP surgeries, supermarkets, pubs and businesses affected in Shropshire

Major IT outages this morning (July 19) have hit industries around the world including airports, banks, broadcasters and supermarkets. Sky News was left unable to broadcast live while travellers have been left stranded at airports.

The outage linked to Windows workstations has caused widespread disruption across the county including at Weatherspoons pubs, Morrisons and Co-Op supermarkets, medical practices, and the travel industry. West Mercia Police have confirmed they have not been affected.

Woodside Surgery and Shawbirch medical practice in Telford have reported issues.

Woodside Medial Practice posted on social media saying: "We are experiencing IT issues today. We are unable to access the system to book appointments, answer queries and medications.

"Please attend as normal if you have a pre-booked appointment. We will keep you updated"

Meanwhile, Portcullis Surgery in Ludlow is running an extremely limited service and has confirmed that it is unable to book appointments, access records, provide prescriptions, and see results or letters.

The practice said on social media: "We are affected by a national failure in our computer systems and cannot access all our clinical records.

"We will provide a very limited service today until this national issue is resolved.

"If you have an appointment today and it is not urgent please cancel it and send as an online message, and we will rebook you as soon as possible for a later date."

A Spokesperson for NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin said: "To all patients and residents in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, we are aware of an IT outage that is impacting organisations globally, including some health services across the country.

"If you have a healthcare appointment scheduled for today, please still attend unless advised otherwise.

"Local health and care partners are working together to monitor the impact and respond. We will provide updates as the situation progresses. Stay up to date by following our social channels.

"We are monitoring the situation closely and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

"If you need urgent medical advice, and it’s not an emergency, please visit 111.nhs.uk or call 111 from any landline or mobile phone. For life threatening emergencies, dial 999."

It is understood that NHS hospitals around the country have not been affected by the outage. But, Pharmacies have reported issues with accessing prescriptions from GP surgeries.

A spokesman for the National Pharmacy Association said: "We're aware that due to global IT outages that services in community pharmacies, including the accessing of prescriptions from GPs and medicine deliveries, are disrupted today. We urge patients to be patient whilst visiting their pharmacy.

"We're urgently raising this issue with the NHS England."

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “Our systems are not currently impacted by the global IT issues and we are continuing to operate normally.

“We are aware that other NHS organisations and systems may be affected. This could potentially lead to increased demand on the ambulance service, on a day where call numbers are already expected to be high due to the hot weather.

“Please remember to use 999 wisely and only for life-threatening emergencies. For non-emergencies, please dial 111.”

All Weatherspoons pubs, and Morrisons and Co-Op supermarkets in the UK are cash only.

Meanwhile, Sainsbury's has confirmed that its supermarkets have not been affected by the issue

A Sainsbury's spokesperson said, "We're not seeing any impact to our stores but continue to closely monitor the situation."

A spokesperson for Lidl said: "We're not currently experiencing any operational issues and our stores are trading as normal."

A spokesperson for M&S said: "Customers can be reassured that all our stores are trading as normal, and they can continue to shop on M&S.com as usual.”

A spokesperson for Waitrose stated: "Waitrose is now taking contactless payments largely as normal, as well as still processing payments by Chip and PIN and cash. We’re also continuing to take orders via Waitrose.com.

"For clarity, we have been able to take card payments through the day - we were just briefly limited on contactless payments. Chip & PIN and cash were available though.

"John Lewis was not impacted by this issue."

Elsewhere, Birmingham Airport has revealed that the majority of flights to and from its site are not experiencing delays, but that checking in may take longer.

The airport said on social media: "The majority of flights are operating as normal. However, some check ins are experiencing delays which are being processed by colleagues. For those that have checked in online previously are unaffected."

Train services this morning (July 19) in the West Midlands have been affected by signalling issues, but West Midlands Trains said the IT outage has not affected its services.

The company said: "Due to an ongoing IT issue, some back office systems are temporarily unavailable.

"Train services are not currently affected by this issue but customers are advised to check their journeys before travelling."