Waikato DHB cyber attack: More payroll concerns for hospital staff following last night's pay run

Waikato DHB's latest pay run went out last night and is expected to have some errors. Photo / Alan Gibson

An anxious day awaits staff working for the Waikato DHB as some of their pay is expected to be further disrupted by the cyber attack.

It comes as the health minister admits they have lost control of what happens to confidential patient files stolen by the hackers.

DHB employees will be carefully scrutinising their bank balances this morning to check they have been paid the correct amount after last week's payroll errors resulted in some staff being underpaid and some not paid at all.

Payroll is just one of a raft of services impacted by a serious and sophisticated cyber attack on the DHB's IT system last week, causing havoc at ​Waikato, Thames, Tokoroa, Te Kūiti and Taumarunui hospitals.

Andrew Little, who is the Minister of Health, and security, told the Herald this morning he had brought in the Officials' Committee for Domestic and External Security Co-ordination yesterday because the risk had escalated. The additional risk was due to it being unclear how many weeks it would take to fix the DHB's IT system and because patient data had been stolen and circulated to media to prove it.

The DHB had been made aware of at least some of the stolen documents and he expected it to be in contact with the impacted patients.

Little said the Government had no control of what the hackers did with the documents so needed other people who might come into possession of it to do the right thing.

"It is obviously very disturbing and very worrying when patient information is compromised in this way.

"Once it's been stolen and in the hands of a hacker like this we can't control what the hacker does. What we can do is alert patients to the fact that information has been stolen and also that everyone is aware if that information turns up and they are very sure they shouldn't have a need for it to be in their possession they are alerted to that and alert the authorities if that happens."

Little said he had received "mixed reports" about how bad the situation at the hospitals was, but there was no doubt the DHB was under immense pressure.

He said patients were still being cared for and many surgeries and appointments were still going ahead. Other patients - on top of cancer patients - were also being sent to Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Wellington hospitals if needed to get the best possible treatment.

Meanwhile it is unknown at this stage whether staff pay has been affected for a second week due to Payroll being unable to process wages as it usually would due to its broken IT system.

Waikato DHB chief executive Kevin Snee told media earlier this week he expected Wednesday's payroll to be smoother and they now had a better process in place.

But Sarah Dalton of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists said there would definitely be more errors with pay for staff especially those on casual contracts.

"They are having to do manual pay - so they won't be across actual hours worked I'm expecting. So there will probably be people being underpaid."

She said while it mattered that its members were paid correctly, ASMS was particularly concerned about those vulnerable workers such as security staff or food workers who may be living from pay packet to pay packet.

"The DHB has been really good about trying to manage that as proactively as they can and I believe they've been working with banks etc about ensuring people's financial commitments are honoured so they are not put into hardship or disadvantaged caused, but obviously it's stressful if your pay is not there."

After last week's payroll problems, the DHB quickly implemented a contingency plan to enable staff to be paid based on the hours worked from their previous period with adjustments made as necessary. This was expected to be in place again.

Employees suffering financial hardship or underpayment can contact Waikato DHB Payroll Services. The DHB also has $50 Prezzie Cards on hand to give to any staff in need.