A number of doctors involved in the clinical validation of an IT system that cost €35m and has so far accrued around €1m in additional consultancy fees said it has had “a positive impact on the hospitals who have deployed it”.

The HSE will continue to block external emails until late tomorrow following the international cyber attack which affected 200,000 computers in 150 countries.

The HSE is to spend up to €875m rolling out a national electronic health record system (EHR) that will enable patient information to be instantly accessed by approved medical personnel.