Cause of major IT outage across Waikato's hospitals remains unclear
Waikato Hospital and several regional facilities in New Zealand experienced a major IT outage that forced staff to revert to paper-based systems. The disruption, caused by a network connectivity failure at the main data center, resulted in delayed surgeries and diverted non-urgent appointments.
Why it matters
The incident highlights the critical vulnerability of modern healthcare systems to infrastructure failures and the ongoing reliance on digital connectivity for patient care.
A connectivity failure at Waikato Hospital meant staff had to revert to pen and paper after a widespread IT outage .
Health NZ said late on Wednesday evening that the problem - which began at 10.44am - had been fixed, but it was continuing to monitor the situation.
Te Whatu Ora/Health NZ chief information technology officer Darren Douglas said there had been an issue with its main data centre which meant users weren't able to connect.
Thames, Te Kūiti, Tokoroa and Taumarunui hospitals were also affected, which resulted in longer wait times in the emergency department, some delayed surgeries, and forced staff to revert to paper systems.
Douglas told Morning Report the outage was down to a network connectivity issue.
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