Major computer system crash at hospital

File photo / NZ Herald

Patients at Middlemore Hospital have faced long delays today after a major computer system crash, affecting test results and communications.

Counties Manukau District Health Board spokeswoman Lauren Young said the failure had been traced to two recently installed firewalls that had brought the computer system throughout the hospital to a halt.

Ms Young said the issue was "bureaucratic" and staff were mitigating the affect on patients.

"It's a bureaucratic issue, it's not affecting patient care," she said.

"Of course it's irritating for clinicians and irritating for patients who are having to wait for paperwork."

She said practitioners were transferring patient information manually through paperwork, rather than on computer systems.

"It's slowing down test results ... and the ease of communication within the hospital and with other hospitals.

"But there are such things as telephones and fax machines," she said.

Ms Young said a temporary solution had been found, however the system was still "unstable".

She said she did not know the technicalities of the computer system failure, but a permanent fix was expected on Tuesday.

The problem was not understood to have affected other Auckland district health boards.