An East London health trust believes there is “no evidence” that its patients’ data was stolen during a cyber attack - but its finance systems were affected.

Hackers carried out a ransomware attack on Advanced, a software company which provides services to North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT) on August 4.

The attack affected the NHS’s 111 telephone advice service, GP surgeries and mental health trusts such as NELFT.

However, according to minutes from NELFT board meeting days after the attack in August, patient data was not compromised because Advanced “very promptly” took its systems down,

During the meeting, board members discussed the cyber-attack but were told there is “no evidence to suggest that any of NELFT’s data had been compromised,” although finance systems were impacted.

Executive director of finance Malcolm Young told the board the systems were “cleansed, safe and could be operational again as soon as possible” without affecting clinical services.

Board minutes do show that NELFT suffered from a “reduced cash balance” from the “phasing of debtors” after its ability to make payments in July and August was reduced.

According to a recent report in the ‘i’ newspaper, 12 mental health trusts with tens of thousands of patients on Advanced’s Carenotes patient records system may still be affected.

A spokesperson for Advanced told the ‘i’ that the restoration process has taken “longer than anticipated” but that backups from August 3 are available.

Documents from NELFT’s November board meeting show the trust has since reviewed the speed of its responses to cyber attacks in monthly “tabletop” exercises conducted by the NHS.

In most months the trust responded within the best practice time of ten minutes, although in September this year it responded in 22 minutes.

NELFT has been contacted for comment but has not responded at the time of publication.