Cancer support centre, vets, public investment body and major construction firm all hit by Microsoft outage as global problems continue
A provincewide cancer charity, a major construction industry company, vets and a public investment body have all revealed they’re still battling the effects of Microsoft’s global outage.
Stormont-linked economic development agency Invest NI said its customer portal and emails have been hit by the problems, while a veterinarian in Bangor revealed that its ability to respond to requests for appointments or repeat medications had been affected.
The worldwide problems, which began last night but still haven’t been rectified, have brought down email services and remote working software, with schools, businesses and public services across Northern Ireland all affected.
Within the last couple of hours many more organisations have revealed they’ve been hit, with Cancer Focus stating it was struggling to access emails across the province and in its Fermanagh cancer support centre.
Thanking people for their patience, the charity said anyone with an urgent enquiry or who needs to contact a member of its team should call Cancer Focus NI on 028 9066 3281, or the Fermanagh support centre on 028 6633 0411.
Major construction industry supplier Haldane Fisher was also encountering difficulties.
Although stating that its 12 branches across the province and others in England and the Republic remain open, the building materials merchant stated on social media: “Due to the ongoing global Microsoft outage, our email systems are currently affected.
“If you need to contact us, please call your local branch directly. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and appreciate your understanding.”
Invest NI warned that people and businesses trying to get in touch with its officials “may experience issues” accessing its customer portal, while the body was also unable to receive emails.
It advised people currently dealing with the body to phone the person handling their case directly, or call the body’s business support team on 0800 181 4422.
Added Invest NI: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this.”
Vets4Pets in Bangor said it was unable to access any emails, which it stated may affect its ability to respond to requests for appointments, repeat medication and flea and worm treatments, as well as general enquiries.
“Please bear with us while Microsoft works to restore the service,” it stated. “Once our emails are back up and running, we will work through all messages and get back to everyone as soon as possible.
“We kindly ask that you allow a little extra time for requests during this period. If your enquiry is urgent, please call the practice on 028 9185 7200.”
The Northern Ireland Social Care Council, which regulates social work across the province, said it was “experiencing technical issues” leaving it unable to receive or respond to emails.
"Our phone lines are still open and the MyPortal system remans unaffected at the moment so all registrants should have full access,” it stated on social media. “We apologise for the disruption.”
The PSNI confirmed its online systems hadn’t been hit by the ongoing issues, though warned that people who use services on Microsoft 365 “may experience difficulties in accessing police systems”.
Said a spokeswoman: “Reports can still be made online or by calling 101 for non-emergency issues or 999 in an emergency.”