A server outage forced Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough, New Hampshire, to divert ambulances and cancel major elective surgeries, the hospital said Wednesday.
In a Wednesday evening email to DysruptionHub, Laura A. Gingras, the hospital’s vice president of philanthropy and community relations, said the emergency department remained open and ambulances were still being diverted. Patients who needed specialized or advanced care would be transferred to a partner facility.
Emergency surgeries and routine minor procedures continued. The hospital said it would contact patients with upcoming surgeries or procedures directly.
Elective lab and radiology services remained on hold. The lab continued to prioritize urgent tests and testing for inpatients, emergency department patients and patients in the birthing unit.
Physician offices remained open, and scheduled appointments were going ahead. The hospital’s public notice said phone access was limited and patients could still use the online portal to view their health information and contact their medical offices.
DysruptionHub first asked whether the outage was cyber-related or whether the hospital had taken systems offline as a security precaution. In its reply, the hospital said it was working with outside experts to restore service. It did not address either question.
DysruptionHub asked again whether the outage was cyber-related. In her Wednesday evening update, Gingras said the hospital was investigating the cause. The update did not say whether the outage was cyber-related.
Regional dispatchers told the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript that ambulance diversion was in effect Monday morning and continued into Tuesday.
A Dartmouth Health spokesperson told All News Radio that the diversion brought more patients to Cheshire Medical Center in Keene. Cheshire kept accepting ambulances and asked crews to use hospitals in Manchester or Concord when possible.
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Monadnock Community Hospital is a 25-bed nonprofit critical access hospital that serves communities in Cheshire, Hillsborough and Merrimack counties.
A similar outage notice came from JPS Health Network in Fort Worth, Texas, in August. Four days after reporting the outage, JPS said it had taken systems offline to contain suspicious activity. The disruption also led to ambulance diversion and postponed elective procedures.
The cause of Monadnock’s outage remains unconfirmed. The hospital has given no timetable for restoring normal operations.
