Waikato DHB computers back on line

Key clinical areas in Waikato District Health Board hospitals are now back on line after the board's 3000 PCs and laptops became paralysed  by the virulent Conficker worm.

All wards and the emergency department at Waikato Hospital are live today as are emergency departments in Thames, Te Kuiti, Taumarunui and Tokoroa hospitals.

DHB chief information officer Alan Grainer said his staff got onto the problem "really quickly" when they identified it during a routine system upgrade at 2am on Thursday.

It appears the DHB got the Conficker A and D variant despite having a system that was security patched and up to date. There are five known variants to Conficker.

"We worked solidly and intelligently, tapped into people's experience and expertise, formulated a plan and by the end of Monday all 3000 computers should be up and running," he said.

Patient safety was not compromised, said Health Waikato chief operating officer Jan Adams.

"Clinics ran as normal, including elective surgeries, and acute operating theatres also kept going."

The most disruption came with laboratory testing which was at 10 per cent capacity until today. Private providers helped the DHB while "runners" - mostly administrative staff unable to work on PCs - took test results to the ward which would normally get emailed.

"What we have to remember is computers don't diagnose and treat patients, they help but doctors and nurses do that and that's what they've continued to do," she said.

Information Services staff would continue to monitor the system over the weekend.

When other staff return to work on Monday, they will need to change their passwords to more robust ones.

Instructions are online at www.waikatodhb.govt.nz and will be handed out as they start work.

USB memory sticks and external hard drives can not be used on computers until technical staff are satisfied they've rid the system of the Conficker virus.

As part of the emergency management structure put in place, the DHB would carry out a thorough "root cause analysis"  to look at what went wrong and how it could be prevented in the future, said Mrs Adams.

Date: 19 December 2009
 
 
Mary Anne Gill
Director
Media and Communications
Waikato District Health Board
P.O. Box 934
Hamilton 3240
Ph: 07 834 3684  
Mobile: 021 705 213