A Dundee doctor has raised patient safety fears after a second “major” computer outage hit practices in just five days.
Staff at surgeries including Hawkhill Medical Cente in Dundee, along with Academy Medical Centre and Ravenswood Surgery in Forfar, were unable to log into their systems.
It came after several other practices in the region were hit by a similar outage on Wednesday.
The latest outage was caused by a different system, according to NHS Tayside.
‘It’s a major concern when we have waiting rooms full of patients’
Dr Andrew Cowie, a GP at Hawkhill and deputy chair of the BMA’s Scottish GP Committee, said problems arose just after 9am on Monday.
He said: “The problem was resolved around an hour and a half later but these issues keep occurring.
“It’s a major concern for us when we have waiting rooms full of patients.
“There are problems making appointments, accessing patient records and writing prescriptions.
“The biggest concern is not being able to access patient records.
“This becomes a safety issue with a real high risk when we are seeing patients on follow-up appointments.
“We can still patients but the IT issue means we can’t access all their medical notes.
“When we have a room full of patients waiting to be seen it causes delays and makes life much more difficult.”
Dundee GP surgery outage resolved
He added: “We keep getting reassurances that the issue has been resolved but it has happened yet again.
“Perhaps they need to reassess the IT system that is currently used.”
In a message to patients, Ravenswood Surgery said: “Please be aware Ravenswood Surgery are having major problems with our computer system this morning.”
A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said, “GP surgeries across Scotland experienced issues with their IT systems this morning.
“The problem was resolved by 10.45am.”
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