Health
1News

Andrew Little says he won’t resign over Waikato DHB cyber attack, still ‘weeks away’ from being resolved

May 27, 2021

Andrew Little says a total of 680 servers need to be recovered before the DHB is out of the woods.

A Government-ordered review will take place after the ransomware attack on the Waikato District Health Board last week is finally resolved.

Health and GCSB Minister Andrew Little told Breakfast today a review would be carried out to determine whether basic maintenance was being done on the DHB's IT systems. Little also remained adamant he'll be around to oversee it, despite calls this week for him to lose his two prominent portfolios.

"I've heard the suggestion, but I'm not going to resign," he said bluntly, without offering further explanation.

The response to the cyber attack was stepped up yesterday , with the situation escalated to a national crisis, after authorities realised patient data had been taken and circulated to New Zealand media.

It comes as the scale of disruption to Waikato Hospital’s cancer care department is revealed.

Little said one question a review could answer is whether the DHB system was configured as well as it could have been.

Little pointed out the DHB's parking system, emails and radiology oncology service were all connected.

He agreed with the DHB that sending cancer patients to Australia as part of the response — a measure suggested yesterday by Opposition Leader Judith Collins — was a "matter of last resort".

Little said travel for cancer patients and their families to other regions of New Zealand has been disruptive enough already without having to go overseas.

"We'll do everything we can to prevent travel to Australia."

He said a resolution of the situation was "some weeks away", with a total of 680 servers to be recovered.

About 200 of them had been recovered to date, Little said.

SHARE ME

More Stories