University Health Network says systems will be fully restored today
Posted January 9, 2023 2:18 pm.
Last Updated January 10, 2023 9:14 am.
University Health Network (UHN) says its systems will be fully restored by the end of Tuesday and patient data was unaffected after a network-wide outage.
The hospital network issued a Code Grey alert on Monday due to digital outages across its networks — a Code Grey is activated when a hospital experiences a loss of utilities that could result in the loss of use of some facilities.
“The systems at UHN will be fully restored by the end of day,” reads a Tuesday morning tweet. “We are confident that this was not a cyber attack and work throughout the night has restored virtually all systems and ensured that they are stable.”
The network says problem with the system were internal and there was no breach of patient data. No cause of the outages has been given.
Patients arriving at UHN hospitals on Tuesday are being warned of possible delays.
“There may be challenges reaching some departments across the network as we restore service,” said Gillian Howard, VP of Public Affairs and Communications. “Patients arriving at our hospitals (Tuesday) should expect delays.”
On behalf of Gillian Howard, VP, Public Affairs and Communications, UHN.
UHN is experiencing a Code Grey. Until our network systems return to its usual operations we will manage our patients in accordance to our established downtime procedures.
— University Health Network (@UHN) January 10, 2023
UHN includes three acute care hospitals, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute.
Late last month, Toronto’s SickKids hospital experienced a system failure after a ransomware attack that affected several critical hospital systems. It also issued a Code Grey, which was later lifted.
UHN has not clarified what systems have been affected by their outage, and there’s no word yet if it is related to a cybersecurity incident.
The outages come as Ontario’s pediatric hospitals have been under massive strain recently, dealing with a surge in young patients with respiratory illnesses.
