18 March 2026

Dear colleagues,

We are writing to update you on the disruption to supply of Stryker Medical products following a cyber-attack upon the company.

Cyber-attack and current position

Stryker is experiencing a global network disruption to its IT systems. The cyber-attack has impacted Stryker’s business operations, shipping and distribution, and halted production.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and NHS Supply Chain have continued to work with Stryker since news of the cyber-attack emerged to minimise disruption as the company seeks to safely restore its IT systems. The situation is changing quickly and the details provided here reflect the most up‑to‑date information available at the time of publication.

Stryker have stated the servers affected are internal infrastructure rather than product-facing infrastructure, and that devices including “connected, digital, and life-saving technologies, remain safe to use”. Stryker has been unable to confirm if any data was stolen during the incident, with investigations continuing at pace.

NHS England’s Cyber Security Operations Centre notes the use of all equipment and software comes down to local risk-based decisions, and it should be noted that at present there are no known indications of onwards threat to NHS systems or the systems of other Stryker customers from this attack. 

Members of the Cyber Associates Network (CAN) can access details of the Flash Briefing for this incident which includes mitigations establish a good baseline of cyber hygiene that is relevant to any potential cyber incidents.

For day to day updates on supply and ordering, please refer to NHS Supply Chain’s ‘Important Customer Notice’ (ICN): Customer Updates: Stryker Network Disruption | Stryker

Stryker is providing regular global updates here: Customer Updates: Stryker Network Disruption | Stryker

Supply in the UK and current approach to ordering and stock management

We understand that stock already in the UK supply chain may be sufficient for ~two weeks’ supply, at normal ordering volumes.

Multiple purchasing frameworks are supported by Stryker with assessment underway on the volume of SKUs impacted. Most of these product lines are usually ordered via NHS Supply Chain’s eDirect route or ordered directly from Stryker, but six lines are ‘stocked’ via NHS Supply Chain. These 6 lines are currently subject to Control Demand Management which means they can only be ordered by submitting an escalation form to coreadminsupport@supplychain.nhs.uk.

Given the disruption seen to production as well as distribution of stock, it is likely that beyond the next two weeks there will be a further period of disruption to supply. Further information and guidance will be issued to support trusts beyond this period.

Implications for care

Styker products are used in a wide range of procedures, and to support other areas of trust business including clinical administration and communications.

• Trauma and Orthopaedics
• Neuroradiology including microwires
• Other surgical technology and consumables
• Connected devices
• Rehabilitation and Community
• Diagnostics, Equipment and Services
• Facilities and Office Solutions

Switch to NHS Supply Chain-led ‘interim’ ordering system

NHS Supply chain has worked with Stryker and Stryker’s third-party logistics and warehousing partner, DHL, whose systems are unaffected by the cyber-attack, to establish an interim ordering system, which is now live.

The interim ordering solution will operate based on an agreed clinical prioritisation developed by NHS Supply Chain and Stryker and therefore some products may not be available.

As part of this operational transition, historical orders placed between Wednesday 11 and Monday 16 March cannot be processed by Stryker and will therefore be cancelled.

SitRep data collection

To help mitigate the risk of harm to patients, NHS England will need to understand the current position of Trusts in terms of timescales for stock held and dependency on Stryker products. To do this, we will be undertaking a data collection exercise using the Strategic Data Collection System (SDCS). The collection will open at 1300 on Wednesday 18 March 2026 and will close at 1600 on Thursday 19 March 2026.

All NHS acute, community, mental health and ambulance trusts are required to upload a return, and nil returns are required – if trusts are not impacted by this supply issue, they need to upload a return populated with ‘No’s’ in the first column. A screenshot of the template and further details of the collection can be found in Annex A.

The collection will initially be released to all named submitters of the recent Bone Cement Collection (acute trusts) or the Industrial Action workforce sitrep (community and ambulance trusts). If you require a different named individual to receive this collection or for any queries or urgent issues with uploading your template, please contact the National Service Desk at ssd.nationalservicedesk@nhs.net or call 0300 303 5035 (please telephone, rather than email for anything urgent) stating that the request is regarding the Stryker data collection. For other guidance queries on the data collection, please contact your Regional Operations Centre.

Heads of Procurement are likely to be key in the completion of this information.

A further email will be sent from ccsm@nhsdigital.nhs.uk to all submitters prior to the collection opening, with further details of the collection – including guidance notes and information on how to change submitters, if required.

Analysis will be used to inform our engagement with Stryker on the allocation of stock and will be shared with NHS England regional teams for cascade as soon as available.

Next steps and contact details for queries

DHSC, NHS England and NHS Supply Chain will continue to work with Stryker and alternative suppliers to minimise the length of disruption and maximise availability of clinically acceptable alternatives, with daily incident co-ordination meetings. We will continue to review how stock is allocated equitably across trusts.

If trusts have concerns on products and supply following the actions set out above, they should contact their NHS Supply Chain Customer Services Advisor and their ICS Manager in the first instance or escalate via EPRR routes to ICB and regional tiers.

Updates will be provided in due course via the Important Customer Notice, and through existing meetings and networks such as the following: the ICB procurement leads network, Independent Healthcare Provider Network, Clinical Procurement Specialists Network (CPSN) and British Orthopaedic Association. Wider Trade Association communications from NHS Supply Chain will also be shared via their usual forum mechanisms.

A series of NHS Supply Chain ‘Voice of the Customer or VOC’ webinars are planned over coming weeks. The date and time of these will be cascaded through the normal routes.

Your co-operation and proactive engagement are vital to the success of this strategy, ensuring we continue to provide safe and effective care across all settings.

Yours sincerely,

Annex A: Screenshot of SitRep

Publication reference: PRN02438