ALMOST 300 outpatient appointments and 40 chemotherapy treatments were among those postponed after NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) suffered a major IT problem.
Further disruption was expected today unless the computer system, which serves all the board's hospitals was successfully repaired overnight, after it suddenly stopped working yesterday morning.
Doctors, nurses and administration staff were left unable to access vital clinical information, including patients records.
The board said that a total of 288 outpatient appointments, along with four planned inpatient procedures, 23 day-cases and 40 chemotherapy treatments had had to be put back because of the problem.
A spokeswoman said yesterday: "We are trying everything we can to fix the issue but there is a chance that it could run into another day."
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde added: "Our technical staff are working flat out to resolve this.
"However as a result, we have had to postpone a number of operations, chemotherapy sessions and outpatient appointments.
"There was also some delay in calls to our switchboard being answered.
"The problem relates to our networks and the way staff can connect to some of our clinical and administrative systems."
The board said that those affected could be assured that their care would be rescheduled at the earliest opportunity.
"We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience," the statement added.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: "While we acknowledge that NHS GG&C has been quick to admit to a serious problem, it needs to resolve the issue urgently and urgently reassure the public that the chaos of Tuesday will not be repeated.
"Inevitably patients will be concerned and rightly so - this failure will have been distressing for many.
"The Scottish Government must stand ready to help and ensure other health boards have all the information they need to avoid a similar crisis elsewhere."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article