The latest figures suggest that nearly 1,500 medical operations have been cancelled at some of London's leading hospitals in the four weeks following Qilin's ransomware attack on pathology services provider Synnovis. But perhaps no one was more severely impacted than Johanna Groothuizen. Hanna, as she goes by, is now without her right breast after having her skin-sparing mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction surgery swapped with a simple mastectomy at the last minute.
In late 2023, the 36-year-old research culture manager at King's College London—a former health sciences researcher—was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer. It's an aggressive form that requires immediate medical attention as it spreads more quickly and recurs more often. After receiving her diagnosis, Hanna promptly began a course of chemotherapy until she was well enough to undergo what is hoped to be the first and only major surgery to cure the disease.
She had been informed repeatedly between then and the operation, which was set for June 7—four days after the ransomware attack—that the planned procedure was a skin-sparing mastectomy, allowing surgeons to reconstruct her right breast cosmetically right away.
How the ordeal unfolded, however, was an entire different story. Doctors gave Hanna less than 24 hours to make the difficult decision of accepting a simple mastectomy or postponing a life-changing treatment until Synnovis' systems were back up. The decision was thrust upon her on Thursday afternoon, prior to her Friday surgery.
This came after she was compelled to track down the medical staff for updates on whether or not the procedure would even take place. Hanna was informed on Tuesday of that week, the day after Qilin's attack, that regardless of the situation, the staff at St Thomas' Hospital in London intended to proceed with the skin-sparing mastectomy as previously agreed.
Hanna requested details on Thursday, and it was strongly suggested that the procedure would be cancelled. The hospital deemed the reconstruction part of the procedure too dangerous because Synnovis was unable to sustain blood transfusions until its systems were fully operational.
The ransomware attack was difficult for hospitals to deal with. The situation was so serious that blood supplies were running low barely a week after the attack, prompting an urgent need for O-type blood donations. For Hanna, however, this meant having to make a difficult decision between the surgery she wanted and the surgery that would present her the best chance of survival. The mother with two young kids, aged four and two, felt she had no choice but to undergo a routine mastectomy, leaving her with only one breast.
Qilin's attack on Synnovis, a pathology services partnership involving Synlab, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, and King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, occurred about five weeks ago as of this writing. According to the most recent NHS bulletin, service disruption remains evident throughout the region, however some services, such as outpatient appointments, are returning to near-normal levels.