Northern Ireland

Live updates as worldwide IT outage affects GPs in Northern Ireland and Belfast airports

Belfast International Airport has warned of disruption

Passengers queuing at check-in desks at London Gatwick Airport amid the IT outage
Gatwick and other airports have reported disruption due to the global IT outage (Gareth Fuller/PA)

A major worldwide IT outage is causing issues in Northern Ireland including with local GPs and Belfast International Airport.

The outage is believed to have been caused by issues around Microsoft and cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

The global outage has hit vital NHS services, with reports that the medical computer system EMIS is not working.



The EMIS system allows GPs to book appointments, view patient notes, order prescriptions and make referrals.

Belfast International Airport said that flights remain operational but asked passengers for their patience.

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A spokesperson said: “A global IT system outage is impacting the airport alongside many other businesses, but flights remain operational. Our IT teams are working hard to resolve the issue but there are longer wait times than usual at the airport and we thank passengers for their patience while the issue is resolved.”

Microsoft said that it was investigating an “issue” with its 365 apps and operating systems, and although had recovered some services, warned that the issue was ongoing and users should expect “service degradation”, according to a status page on its website.

According to cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt, an IT issue at global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike was causing much of the outage.