NHS is hit by large-scale cyber attack with patients turned away and operations cancelled in hospitals across Britain as hackers take over computers and demand cash not to wipe out records

The NHS has been hit by an 'unprecedented' hack that has shut down computers and cut off phone lines in a cyber attack that could 'endanger lives', doctors said today. Hackers have taken control of computers in at least 40 NHS Trusts across the country including Lister Hospital in Stevenage (bottom right). It means doctors cannot access patients' files which are stored online. Messages popped up on computers this afternoon which said 'oops, your files have been encrypted' and demanded a ransom of £230 to regain access to the PC otherwise the files would be wiped forever. Some NHS Trusts can't carry out emergency MRI and CT scans and have turned off all their IT systems, reverting to using pen and paper as hundreds of non-urgent operations have been delayed. One doctor at Colchester General Hospital said screens were 'wiped out one by one' while another described a matron running around frantically yelling: 'Turn off your computers'.