HEALTHCARE services in St Helens are facing a “high risk” of threat from cyber attacks, a new report has said.

The report on the current risks to the borough’s healthcare services says St Helens Clinical Care Commissioning Group needs to protect its IT systems from threats emerging from cyber security.

As of the end of the fourth quarter, the cyber threat has been given a risk score of 12, which equates to a “high risk”.

The report was discussed at a governing body meeting of the CCG.

“The IT systems run by the HIS (Health Informatics Service) are coming under increased risk regarding service disruption as a result of potential cyber security attacks,” the CCG report said.

“A successful cyber attack could result in the loss of data or system outage (including primary, secondary and community systems as well as local CCG IT systems) resulting in significant service disruption, harm to patients and financial loss.”

The CCG manages the risks to the borough’s healthcare services through the GBAF (Governing Body Assurance Framework).

The report, which went before the governing body, says a dedicated HIS cyber response plan was successfully tested during the “WannaCry” ransomware attack on the NHS last May.

“This new risk has been added to the GBAF to highlight the increasing potential threat of cyber security attacks,” the report said.

“The cyber security incident in May 2017 did not directly infect the Health Informatics Service (HIS) provided by St Helens and Knowsley Hospital Trust.

“Therefore, CCG systems were not adversely affected, however the HIS had to take immediate action which resulted in some local service disruption.

“Through national work and from the approach of the HIS, the CCG can now accurately assess impact of potential future threats and has a clear strategy and approach to minimise potential threats and disruption.”

The report says that a number of key work programmes are in place to protect the borough’s healthcare services against emerging cyber threats.

It says a plan been put in place to manage cyber security risk and is actively looking to strengthen its cyber resilience by the strengthening of existing defences and investment in new technologies.

A team of specialist (HIS) staff whose roles include cyber resilience has also been appointed.