Girls delivered safely during cyber attack

Cheryl McNulty and Scott Wright became parents at Wishaw General in the early hours of Saturday morning as Cheryl underwent a caesarean section at 34 weeks and six days.

She said: “I had a condition called placenta praevia, which made my pregnancy high risk. I had a moderate bleed on Tuesday, which meant that I was kept in to be monitored.

“Early on Saturday morning I had a heavy bleed and the decision was taken to deliver the babies early.

“The whole team came together to deliver my babies. There was no sense of panic. Everyone knew their role and I felt completely safe.

“They were all fantastic with me.”

The babies were taken to the neonatal unit after they were born, but were back by Cheryl’s side the next day in time for evening visitors.

Cheryl said: “If the staff hadn’t explained about the cyber attack, I wouldn’t have been aware that there were any issues. The only thing I noticed was that everything was done on paper rather than a computer.

“From my point of view, it didn’t have any impact on my patient experience at all.”

Cheryl and Scott are currently choosing names and hope that they will be able to go home as a family soon.

Amanda Kennet, senior midwife for inpatients, said: “Everyone played a vital role in Cheryl’s care. It shows that although we were dealing with adversity, keeping patients safe was the number one priority for every member of staff on shift.

“You can’t break NHS Lanarkshire staff. We do this job because we love people and our patients are our priority.”