A London hospital has confirmed the death of patient has been linked to last year鈥檚 cyber attack on the NHS.
King鈥檚 College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said an investigation identified a number of contributing factors to the incident.
Pathology services provider Synnovis was the victim of a ransomware attack by a Russian cyber gang in June last year.
It saw 1,100 cancer treatments delayed, 2,000 outpatient appointments cancelled and more than 1,000 operations postponed.
Guy鈥檚 and St Thomas鈥, King鈥檚 College and Lewisham and Greenwich hospitals were all affected, as well as primary care across six boroughs and two mental health trusts.
Confirming the news first reported by Sky News, a King鈥檚 College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust spokesman told the Standard: 鈥淥ne patient sadly died unexpectedly during the cyber attack.
鈥淎s is standard practice when this happens, we undertook a detailed review of their care.
鈥淭he patient safety incident investigation identified a number of contributing factors that led to the patient鈥檚 death.
鈥淭his included a long wait for a blood test result due to the cyber attack impacting pathology services at the time.
鈥淲e have met with the patient鈥檚 family, and shared the findings of the safety investigation with them.鈥
Synnovis, which provides services primarily in south east London, is understood to be the victim of Russian group Qilin. Sensitive data stolen was apparently published online.鈥
鈥淭he death now confirmed is tragic, but it is not surprising,鈥 ex-NHS cyber security expert Deryck Mitchelson told Sky News.
鈥淭he NHS is critically reliant on a complex network of suppliers and service providers. But that means we are only ever as secure as the weakest link in the chain,鈥 he said.
鈥淭o those behind these attacks: this wasn’t a faceless act. It wasn’t just systems or data you targeted – it was care. It was people. One of them has now lost their life. That should weigh heavily.鈥
Last week Health Service Journal reported that there were nearly 600 鈥渋ncidents鈥 linked to the attack, with around 170 patients suffering harm.