Microsoft's global failure is having a serious impact on health, education and police services in the UK, according to the GMB union.
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13/11/2026
by
Lusa
A global failure that has been affecting Microsoft services since Thursday is having a “serious impact” on British health services, revealed the GMB union, while universities, transport companies and police also have problems.
“ Microsoft’s system failure is having a serious impact on ambulance services and the National Health Service (NHS) institutions,” he announced on social network X.
The union states that “who works in services (telephones) 111 (not urgent) and 999 (emergencies) is unable to refer patients in the usual way, which is creating a huge delay.”.
However, he points out that “emergency calls and life-threatening calls appear not to have been affected.”.
For several hours Microsoft-operated IT services have been inactive worldwide, including Outlook and 365 email services.
The company dismissed the hypothesis of a malicious act and claimed to be recording the first “positive results” for a return to normality.
Several local NHS entities sent messages this morning referring to difficulties being affected by the Microsoft problem.
The Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, which provides healthcare in central and northwest London, asked patients to call “instead of sending emails until further notice”.
The NHS Grampian, which manages public health services in a part of northeastern Scotland, indicated that “some general practitioners are unable to connect” to their medical management software.
The National Association of Pharmacies confirmed that many of the affiliated establishments are also unable to communicate with medical offices and some patients.
“ Be understanding with the teams of pharmacies today, because waiting times may be longer than usual and there may be delays in the delivery of some recipes ", he said.
Universities, transport companies and police are also being affected.
The National Rail organization said that Microsoft’s failure “may be limiting customers’ ability to access their train tickets via their email” and suggested that people try to access the titles via the web pages or mobile apps.
Several regional police officers, notably Hertfordshire, in the London region, have indicated that they are unable to receive complaints from the Internet.