Microsoft Outage Put Patients at Risk as Prescriptions Stalled
Microsoft said its 365 services were fully restored on Saturday after a global outage across more than 70 countries. In Suffolk, England, GP surgeries and pharmacies lost email, delaying prescriptions and treatment changes, according to local health staff.
Microsoft said on Saturday, November 14, 2026, that its Microsoft 365 services were fully restored after a global outage that hit more than 70 countries. The company said work on the underlying problem was complete.
The Microsoft outage put patients in Suffolk, England, at risk of delayed treatment when GP surgeries and pharmacies lost email. Customers using Outlook, Teams and Copilot should no longer be affected, Microsoft said.
More than 430 million people use the affected products worldwide.
What Microsoft says went wrong
Microsoft said the fault was introduced during a "network capacity upgrade". It said a cyber-attack or an artificial intelligence agent did not cause it.
The company first acknowledged at 17:54 GMT on Thursday that users in the Americas could not reach Exchange Online mailboxes. Services began recovering on Friday afternoon UK time, nearly 24 hours after the first problems.
"We are deeply sorry for the disruption this incident has caused our customers and partners," a Microsoft spokesperson said.
Prescriptions delayed in Suffolk
In Suffolk, the county council, Ipswich Borough Council, Suffolk Police and Ipswich Town Football Club were among those affected. GP surgeries from East Bergholt to Bury St Edmunds reported problems. NHS England said the outage had a "disruptive impact" on its operations but urged patients to keep attending appointments.
Rachel Andrews, assistant manager at the Orchard Medical Practice in Ipswich, said missing email meant missing hospital discharge summaries. That caused delays to changes in patient treatments, she said.
"It's very hard for us to prescribe when we don't know what has been prescribed, and we cannot prescribe blindly – it could be very serious," Andrews said. Patients phoned the surgery instead, she said, which raised call volumes and waiting times.
Mohamad Alom, from Aqua Pharmacy in Ipswich, said patients arrived for medication that doctors' surgeries had not sent over. He said the NHS email address system "was not working at all".
Business and wider impact
Jules Shorrock, vice chair of the Suffolk Business Women Board, said the outage would be "dreadful" for the economy. "There needs to be like a process in place in case these things happen," she said.
Mark Ling, agency director at Ipswich freight firm ICE Transport, said the outage hit both his office and his US principal office. It showed how much firms depend on their connectivity and networks, he said.
UK cyber minister Liz Lloyd said the impact on critical frontline services such as 999 calls was "limited". Canada's national rail network warned that passengers might not receive email updates about their trips.
Staff in the US House of Representatives told a news organization the outage set back a day of legislative work because everything ran on Outlook.
Take the quizWhat Kind of Holiday Spender Are You? Take the Black Friday QuizStart →- 1Column: 4 Reasons to Eat Dark Chocolate, Dietitians Say
- 2Mavericks Surfers Race to California for Waves Near 50 Feet
- 3Chrissie Swan, 52, Tears Up Over Secret Surprise While Recovering
- 4Meghan Markle Plans US Return to See Mother After Father’s Arrest
- 5Aspyn Ovard Reveals Daughter Has Terminal Cancer on Mormon Wives
Lifestyle · Food & HealthThanksgiving Food Safety: How Long Leftovers Last and the Safe Turkey Temperature
Lifestyle7 Quiet Habits of Emotionally Intelligent People, According to Psychologists
LifestylePeople Who Don’t Like Celebrating Their Birthday Often Share These 7 Traits
Lifestyle · Food & HealthVitamin D in Winter: Do You Need a Supplement, and How Much?
