NHS England Warns of Patient Data Risks After Tech Vendor Collapse

NHS England has issued an unusual warning to general practitioners following the collapse of Silicon Practice Digital Health Solutions, a health tech firm owned by Schappit Ltd. According to reporting from The Register, the company has entered administration, resulting in some GP websites going offline and disrupting services for potentially hundreds of practices across the UK.

Kevin Humphries, the CTO of NHS England, wrote to organizations and practices to outline urgent mitigation priorities. These include identifying alternative patient access channels, managing online consultation backlogs, and preserving historical patient information that may not have been migrated to clinical systems. Humphries also noted that Integrated Care Boards—the bodies responsible for GP IT service arrangements—must lead recovery plans and ensure clinical safety and data security across the supply chain.

Practices have been advised to determine if they are legally required to notify the Information Commissioner's Office if the recoverability, integrity, confidentiality, or availability of personal data has been compromised. The Register reports that practice managers are currently struggling to establish alternative communication methods due to a heavy reliance on digital channels.

While Schappit Ltd was added to a government framework in July, the collapse has prompted some to seek independent alternatives. Marcus Baw, an open-source tech campaigner and GP, has released a free, open-source website template based on NHS web standards to allow practices to bring their systems in-house.