Hospital systems slowly coming back online after October cyberattack

pThe five regional hospitals affected by a ransomware cyberattack are confirming that charting systems started coming back online last week and have continued this weekppAs we continue to bring systems online we are closely monitoring system integrity during network restoration at each institution hospital officials said in a statement on Thursday morning This is on pace with our previously shared goal to have core clinical systems online by December 15ppHospital leadership said work continues on an isolated plan to bring systems online for Bluewater Health in Sarnia due to the complexities of its systemppHospital officials noted extensive security measures are also in place to safeguard the systems at Bluewater Health ChathamKent Health Alliance Erie Shores HealthCare in Leamington HôtelDieu Grace Healthcare in Windsor and Windsor Regional Hospital along with their shared service provider TransForm Shared Service OrganizationppThe leadership at all five hospitals is thanking patients families and staff for their patience and understanding as work to restore systems and normal operations continuesppWe understand this has been an incredibly challenging period for our communities officials said This criminal cyberattack has affected our patients employees and professional staff causing disruptions to the highquality care you expect at our organizationsppThe cyberattack in late October impacted patient care and forced the cancellation of thousands of appointmentsppAt Bluewater Health the hackers behind the breach stole the information of over 250000 patients including the Social Insurance Numbers SIN of thousandsppIn ChathamKent recently diagnosed cancer patients were forced to seek treatment outside of the municipalityppInformation about 1446 workers going back to February 2 2021 was also taken at ChathamKent Health Alliance including employee names addresses social insurance numbers gender marital status date of birth and basic pay rateppThe greatest impact at the Leamington hospital was within the diagnostic imaging department according to Erie Shores HealthCares CEOppAt Windsor Regional Hospital some patients were identified only by name or by a brief summary of their condition The attackers also accessed staff schedules but not employee social insurance numbers or banking informationppHotel Dieu Grace Healthcare said employee social insurance and banking information appeared to be safe but investigators were evaluating what patient information was compromisedppAn investigation into the cyberattack continues by several law enforcement agencies including INTERPOL and the FBIp