Healthcare workers in Copenhagen can finally access patient records again after a major system outage. The technical problems lasted over four hours on Thursday morning. The disruption affected all hospitals in Denmark's Capital Region.
The Health Platform serves as the primary digital medical records system. Staff use it to review patient histories and test results. The system also handles blood tests, scans, and X-ray images.
Technical issues began at 7:15 AM and continued until 11:50 AM. Officials confirmed the problem involved a central timing component in the infrastructure. They emphasized this was not a cyberattack targeting the platform itself.
North Zealand Hospital in Hillerød canceled all non-urgent surgeries due to the outage. Hospital management activated their crisis response team. The Capital Region confirmed these postponed procedures in an official statement.
This marks another challenge for Denmark's digital health infrastructure. The Health Platform launched across all hospitals in the Capital Region and Zealand Region in 2017. The system has faced criticism since its introduction for various technical issues.
Patients access their own medical records through My Health Platform. This service exists as both a mobile application and website. The current outage only affected healthcare professional access, not patient portals.
The Capital Region manages major hospitals including Rigshospitalet and facilities in Herlev, Gentofte, and Hvidovre. It also oversees hospitals in Frederikssund, Helsingør, Hillerød, and on Amager, Frederiksberg, and Bornholm.
Digital health systems face increasing pressure as healthcare becomes more technology-dependent. When core systems fail, hospitals must revert to manual processes. This slows treatment decisions and creates potential safety risks.
Healthcare digitalization presents both opportunities and vulnerabilities. Systems must maintain perfect reliability while handling sensitive patient data. Even brief outages can disrupt critical medical care across entire regions.
The platform will become part of the new Eastern Denmark Region in 2027. This planned merger raises questions about system stability during future transitions. Healthcare authorities will likely review today's incident to prevent similar disruptions.