An IT problem which caused days of chaos at every GP practice in Kent and Medway was down to a faulty firewall, it's been revealed.

The issue left patients unable to book appointments over the phone or online and staff left waiting for the problem to be fixed.

GPs across the county first experienced the malfunction on Thursday, March 16, with multiple attempts to fix the problem eventually leading to a fully restored firewall five days later on Tuesday, March 21.

A spokesman for NHS Kent and Medway said: “We would like to apologise to patients who may have experienced difficulty in contacting their GP practice recently.

“The last few days have been challenging because of a problem affecting internet access. This has now been resolved.

"The issue, caused by a faulty firewall, did not affect the NHS network, which is used to access clinical systems such as patient records and issuing prescriptions.

“We would also like to thank practice staff for their patience while we worked as quickly as possible to fix this complex problem and restore access.”

Last week Greensands Health Centre in Linton told patients the issue meant it had no access to the internet last week, and only limited access from Monday.

A spokesman said: “This is having a direct impact on our services. This issue has been escalated to the highest level within NHS Kent & Medway who are liaising with central IT support services to restore full services.”