LONDON – A global Microsoft 365 outage is disrupting pharmacy communications and health care services across the United Kingdom, prompting warnings of longer wait times and potential prescription delays as providers work to maintain patient care.
Although the outage has affected Microsoft users worldwide, reports of pharmacy-related disruptions have been concentrated in the UK. Comparable disruptions to U.S. pharmacy services have not been confirmed.
The disruption, which began on Thursday, November 12, has affected Microsoft Outlook, Teams, and other cloud-based services used by pharmacies, general practitioner (GP) offices, hospitals, and National Health Service (NHS) organizations.
On Friday, November 13, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) said that pharmacies were having difficulty accessing NHS email systems, limiting their ability to communicate with GP practices and some patients.
The association warned that patients could face longer wait times and delays in receiving prescriptions as pharmacy teams work around the communication problems.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) said the outage has also disrupted communications among pharmacies, NHS commissioners, and technology suppliers. However, critical NHS clinical infrastructure, including the NHS Spine, operates separately from Microsoft 365.
Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, confirmed that pharmacy patient medical records and recording platforms remained operational, enabling pharmacies to continue providing patient care despite the disruption.
CPE has advised pharmacy teams to use telephone lines for urgent prescription inquiries and clinical updates, activate business continuity plans as needed, and maintain records of affected services.
The disruption has spread across the NHS, affecting hospitals, GP surgeries, and ambulance services. Some health care providers reported difficulty accessing email, managing administrative tasks, and processing patient referrals.
NHS England said that health care organizations were implementing established contingency measures, such as alternative IT systems and paper records, to maintain essential services.
Patients have been advised to attend scheduled appointments unless instructed otherwise and to continue using emergency and urgent care services as usual.
Microsoft said Friday that its services were being gradually restored, with email access returning for many users. However, the company cautioned that intermittent disruptions and delayed message delivery could persist as recovery efforts continued.
The company attributed the widespread disruption to infrastructure problems that left many servers unavailable, putting additional pressure on the remaining systems. Microsoft said it had found no evidence of malicious activity and would release a detailed report after recovery was complete.
The outage has also affected businesses, government agencies, police departments, and schools, underscoring the widespread reliance on Microsoft’s cloud-based communication platforms.
Submit Your Press Release
Have news to share? Send us your press releases and announcements.
Send Press Release
