Windsor Regional Hospital resumes cancer radiation treatments following cyberattack

Windsor Regional Hospital has resumed doing some radiation treatments locally after the ongoing cyberattack forced it to start sending cancer patients out of town last month.

Curative radiation treatments began again Monday at the Windsor Regional Hospital Cancer Centre, but some patients will still be sent out of town until systems are back to full speed.

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“WRH’s team, the IT experts and application specialists have been working non-stop and will continue to do so safely until we return to normal operations,” the hospital said. “Until we are back up to normal volumes, WRH is still working with Ontario Health and other cancer centre organizations to transfer patients for their care, as well as to address any new referrals for radiation care.”

The hackers broke into technology systems and stole data from Bluewater Health in Sarnia, Chatham Kent Health Alliance, Erie Shores HealthCare in Leamington, Windsor’s Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, and Windsor Regional Hospital.

An organized cybercrime group known as Daixin Team has claimed responsibility for the attack. They started posting some of the stolen data on the dark web late last week.

The criminals found backdoors into the hospital systems by targeting TransForm Shared Service Organization, which runs technology systems for all five facilities.

Bluewater Health, the source of most of the data being published online, was the hardest hit. Information about more than 5.6 million visits from 267,000 of its patients was stolen.

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While Windsor Regional Hospital was less affected by the attack, which was detected Oct. 23, the organization was locked out of systems and had to transfer or postpone some care.

“Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) has been working with IT experts and radiation treatment platform providers on trying to implement a safe and reliable service to resume operation of curative radiation treatments while addressing other issues caused by the cyberattack that began on October 23, 2023,” the hospital said Tuesday.

Windsor Regional Hospital has not said where it is sending patients, but Grand River Hospital in Kitchener told the Star last week it is among the facilities helping out.

“We want to thank these organizations for their support in assisting with our patients,” Windsor Regional Hospital said. “In parallel, patients requiring systemic (chemotherapy and related services) are being treated both within WRH, and plans have been established to access additional capacity in other centres, if needed. WRH fully appreciates the stress this is causing to our patients and we are trying our best to accommodate their current clinical needs while working on an immediate solution. Financial support continues to be available for travel and accommodation costs.”

twilhelm@postmedia.com

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