Most GP practices in England have suffered disruption as a result of the major global IT outage, causing problems with booking appointments and issuing prescriptions.
But NHS England said there was currently no known impact on 999 or emergency services as a result of the mass computer failure.
Thousands of doctors’ surgeries have been affected after the widely-used EMIS appointment and patient record system went down.
Global IT outage: Follow live
Pharmacies have also reported issues with accessing prescriptions from GP surgeries and said this would affect the delivery of medicines to patients.
A spokeswoman for NHS England said: “The NHS is aware of a global IT outage and an issue with EMIS, an appointment and patient record system, which is causing disruption in the majority of GP practices.
“The NHS has long-standing measures in place to manage the disruption, including using paper patient records and handwritten prescriptions, and the usual phone systems to contact your GP.
“There is currently no known impact on 999 or emergency services, so people should use these services as they usually would.
“Patients should attend appointments unless told otherwise. Only contact your GP if it’s urgent, and otherwise please use 111 online or call 111.”
EMIS Web enables GP practices to book appointments, examine records and includes a clinical decision support tool as well as helping with admin.
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