How global Microsoft outage is affecting Sunderland
A major global Microsoft outage has caused problems across Sunderland as services across the globe are affected and in some cases, disabled.
Microsoft 365 Services, including Teams, Outlook and Microsoft's artificial intelligence software Copilot, are all reported to have been impacted.
The issue was first reported at around 6pm on Thursday, November 12.
What services in Sunderland are affected?
Northumbria Police and Durham Constabulary have already reported issues and are unable to receive reports online.
Members of the public are being asked to report an incident by sending Northumbria Police or Durham Constabulary a DM on their social media channels or by ringing 101.
In an emergency always call 999.
NHS systems have also been affected by the outage, including a number of GP surgeries across the city.
Surgeries are unable to access e-mails but have assured patients telephones, patient systems and AllianceCare are still working.
Sir Ciarán Devane, chief executive of NHS Alliance, said: “The Microsoft outage is affecting some NHS services, notably access to email, but it appears that all clinical and operational systems are working effectively.
“NHS leaders and their teams are working hard to minimise disruption, maintain essential services and support staff and patients who may be affected.
“Their priority is, as always, to ensure patient safety and continuity of care.
"NHS organisations have workarounds in place when email is unavailable, so contingencies are in place to manage situations like this."
The University of Sunderland and Durham University have also reported problems with their systems.
In a statement made on social media, the University of Sunderland said: “Due to a global Microsoft outage, Outlook and Copilot are currently down, while Teams and SharePoint are working intermittently.
“Canvas and Evision are operating as normal.
“Microsoft is working to fix the issue asap. Until then, please don’t rely on Teams or Microsoft for urgent messages. Call our helpline on 0191 515 3000 if you need urgent assistance.
“Keep an eye on the university app and website for updates.”
Durham University added: “As you may be aware, there is a global outage at Microsoft who are working urgently to fix it.
“This has affected email, calendars and SharePoint at Durham.
“Teams currently has some functionality, but not complete.
“We are also taking steps to address this at a local level.”
A number of schools, colleges and funeral directors across the city have also reported issues.
Reports suggest for some people, services are working as normal, whilst other users have reported specific issues such as not being able to use or send emails, view certain files or details on their calendar apps.
Potential scale of issue
According to monitoring website Downdetector, 140,000 people from 74 countries report issues with Outlook on Thursday evening.
With 430 million Microsoft 365 apps users globally, the issues has the potential affect far more people.
Microsoft 365 is also the chosen business platform for thousands of businesses across the world, meaning the issue is likely to have a knock-on impact across a wide range of sectors.
Several GP practices across the UK have warned of potential problems, with some instructing patient to make urgent queries over the phone instead of by email or web form.