CUH patient praises staff for saving his life after HSE cyberattack threatened treatment
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A Cork University Hospital (CUH) patient has credited hospital staff for saving his life after the HSE cyberattack disrupted IT systems and threatened patient treatment plans.
Tom Sullivan, 67, from Turners Cross in Cork has been living with aplastic anaemia, a form of blood cancer since his diagnosis in 2019.
He receives regular blood transfusions and platelet transplants after two previous unsuccessful immune system treatments.
Lightheadedness first alerted his GP to the Cork man’s low blood pressure and his condition was later identified after tests showed his bone marrow is unable to produce blood cells.
Isolating throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, his immune system has started to return after his white and red cell count began to rise.
However, Mr Sullivan must undergo regular blood tests to determine this blood count and the condition of his immune system.
Last week during the turmoil of the HSE cyberattack, Mr Sullivan was due to receive his latest blood transfusion however staff could not receive his testing results on Tuesday, May 18.
“There was no reading, there were no computers, and the readings weren’t coming back to them,” said Mr Sullivan.
Waiting in his hospital bed, Mr Sullivan said staff realised he needed his transfusion after his muscles were starting to cramp from a lack of oxygen.
“The red blood cells bring oxygen to the muscles. So I would have trouble, without oxygen going to the muscles you start to get cramps.
“They didn’t know what my blood count might be. They gave me blood that night because obviously, I needed it, but it wasn’t a result of getting the blood tests back,” he said.
In a judgment call, a unit of blood was administered to Mr Sullivan on Tuesday night. The next day, the patient received two more units from the hospital after staff managed to retrieve the results of an early morning test.
“I got three units altogether to bring me back up. I started to feel good after that,” he said.
Waiting for his next transfusion, Mr Sullivan said the criminal attack on the health system left him furious after it threatened the lives of thousands of patients.
“They depend an awful lot on the records that they keep on the computer for blood tests and patient history and they deal with a huge amount of people out there and they can’t be expected to remember every detail or every person.
“By attacking the health board and attacking the computer system, they attacked the health system completely,” he said.
Praising the CUH staff for their handling of the cyberattack, Mr Sullivan said he admired their resourcefulness.
“The nurses and the doctors are just fantastic, the whole staff, they just dealt with it,” he said.
“I’m very grateful. I wouldn’t be alive without them,” he said.