Hospital threatened to turn off baby's life support machine after RBS / NAT WEST bank meltdown ( or lack of money ) stopped a cash transfer from going through ! Man stuck in jail because bail money not processed by Nat / West !

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/banking/9355467/RBS-computer-failure-condemns-man-to-spend-weekend-in-the-cells.html

RBS computer failure condemns man to spend weekend in the cells

By James Hall and Gordon Rayner

10:00PM BST 25 Jun 2012

The unnamed man was granted bail at Canterbury Crown Court in Kent on Friday, on condition that a surety was paid before his release.

But the computer glitch that has affected 17 million customers at RBS and two of its subsidiaries, NatWest and Ulster Bank, prevented the money being transferred and he had to remain in a remand cell.

A software update froze part of the banks’ computer systems last Wednesday, and has affected almost every conceivable type of financial transaction.

Although the problem was resolved on Friday, it created a backlog of more than 100 million transactions that were not paid in or out of bank accounts as they should have been.

Stephen Hester, the chief executive of RBS Group, said the computer systems at NatWest and RBS were “operating normally” as of Monday, but the group warned that there would still be delays

in processing transactions in the days ahead as it continued to carry out tests.

The delay in processing the bail money was confirmed by HM Courts and Tribunals Service, which said it had become aware of two cases in which there was a “banking issue”.

In the case at Canterbury Crown Court in Kent, a defendant who was granted bail on Friday had to wait until yesterday to be released because the computer problems prevented the court from confirming receipt of a surety demanded by the judge in the case.

In another case heard at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Friday, a magistrate used their discretion to grant a defendant bail even though the same problem had occurred.

Furious RBS customers continued to deluge online forums with complaints yesterday, saying that they were unable to withdraw cash or buy food because they had not been paid.

The widespread anger was made even worse by Mr Hester’s refusal to explain exactly what the cause of the problem was.

Unions have blamed the fiasco on Mr Hester’s decision to outsource much of the company’s IT jobs to India, where staff are paid as little as £9,000, compared with £50,000 their British counterparts were paid.

Mr Hester has promised that customers will be reimbursed for the cost of fines or late payment fees incurred as a result of the delays, but he resisted calls from consumer groups and MPs to pay compensation above and beyond that.

Banking experts said that the cost to RBS of dealing with the IT problems, including extra staff costs as well as the money to reimburse customers, is already likely to be between £50 million and £100 million.

Meanwhile Mr Hester admitted that the bonuses of senior members of RBS staff are likely to be reduced because of the incident.

He said: “All of us are judged in part by customer service, from me on downwards. And we should be.”

Earlier this year Mr Hester was forced to waive a share bonus worth £963,000 after a public outcry and political pressure.

RBS insiders have claimed the problems were caused when technical staff tried to update software called CA-7, which is responsible for ensuring payments are processed overnight.

The CA-7 software used to be supervised by British-based staff, but they were among more than 1,000 technical staff made redundant from 2010 onwards, and the system is now managed remotely by staff in Chennai, Hyderabad and New Delhi.

Mr Hester said that there was “no evidence” that outsourcing had caused the problems.

He said: “The IT centre in Edinburgh is our main centre, it is nothing to do with overseas. Things go wrong. Things go wrong in technology. We have to learn the lessons from what went wrong here and try to make then less likely to happen in the future.”

and....

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/2012/06/24/hospital-threatened-to-turn-off-dying-girl-s-life-support-machine-after-bank-meltdown-stopped-cash-transfer-86908-23900132/

Hospital threatened to turn off dying girl's life support machine after bank meltdown stopped cash transfer

Jun 24 2012 By Derek Alexander

olivia downie Image 3

To donate to Olivia's Just Giving page, click here.

THE parents of little Olivia Downie say doctors told them: Pay up or we will switch off her life support machine.

Steven, 24, and Lauren 27, claim the chilling ultimatum came yesterday after the RBS/NatWest bank meltdown stopped a cash transfer to the Mexican hospital where she is stranded.

Cancer-stricken Olivia, seven, was flown to Mexico for life-saving treatment, which sadly failed. The family are now trying to raise cash to fly her home so she can die in familiar surroundings among the people she loves.

Generous Scots have so far raised £130,000 to pay her medical bills and bring her home to Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire.

But the charity responsible for fundraising say Steven and seven-months pregnant Lauren were taken aside at the hospital in Tijuana and told that their daughter’s ventilator would be switched off if they did not pay a bill by Monday.

Family friend and charity campaigner Linza Corp said: “The doctors took Steven and Lauren into a room and told them they would have to switch off the life support machine because they hadn’t been paid.

“Olivia is on a ventilator and can’t breathe without it. If doctors turn that off, she will die.”

Last night, officials at Hospital Angeles denied that the threat had been made – but confirmed that the family were behind in their payments.

Olivia, supported by the fighting fund, was taken to the private hospital to have her rare stage four neuroblastoma treated two weeks ago.

But over the last few days, major technical glitches have hit customers at RBS and NatWest, where the fund’s account is held.

The malfunction has stopped electronic cash transfers being made from accounts at the banks.

Linza, the founder of charity Families Against Neuroblastoma, said Steven and Lauren had been devastated by the latest blow.

The family hoped that treatment in the specialist unit in Tijuana would help extend Olivia’s life.

Linza said: “Lauren phoned me in the middle of the night and was hysterical. She was so upset at one point she thought her waters had broken.

“She went into shock and can’t remember the rest of the conversation.

“We can’t transfer any funds to Mexico because the bank has had a technical problem.

“I can’t even get a bank statement to forward to the hospital to prove to them that the money was in place to pay their bills.

“The campaign to raise funds has been so successful and everyone was delighted at people’s generosity towards Olivia.

“To be told that she was going to have her life-support machine turned off because we couldn’t prove we had the money has sent everyone into a panic.

“I’ve contacted the bank and they have been brilliant. They’ve said they’ll speak to the hospital and explain the situation.

“We’re so close to being able to bring Olivia home.

“I just pray that the bank’s promise that the medical bills will be paid is enough to satisfy the hospital and they’ll continue to treat Olivia until we can get everything organised.”

The charity say they have been told that the hospital require a payment of more than £32,000 (US$50,000) to be made on Monday.

But Carlo Gonzales, of the hospital’s administration department, said the family had an outstanding balance of £3600 (US$5615).

He added: “There is only an outstanding balance of $5,615. I don’t believe anyone at the hospital would make such a threat.”

Ventilators mechanically move air into patients lungs when they are too ill to breathe on their own.

Olivia was treated for rare cancer stage four neuroblastoma in the Hope 4 Cancer Institute in Tijuana two weeks ago.

But she failed to respond to the treatment and medics at the Hospital Angeles in the Mexican city said that she was too ill to travel home to Scotland on a commercial flight.

One of her lungs collapsed and she is now also suffering from a blood infection.

Within hours of Olivia’s plight being revealed, people from all over Scotland started donating cash to fly her the 5500 miles home and pay her rising medical bills.

Olivia has been battling against illness since she was only four, when doctors found a tumour the size of a grapefruit beside her kidney.

She went through surgery and chemotherapy and was given the all-clear in 2010.

But the cancer returned last year and she was then flown to Germany for more treatment when the family raised £40,000.

Doctors then discovered more growths had appeared behind her breastbone and in her spine.

Last night, her internet fighting fund had reached £130,000 – and cash on Olivia’s Just Giving page was continuing to pour in from generous well-wishers.

An air ambulance suitable for bringing Olivia home will cost £110,000 and her medical fees are around £65,000.

A NatWest spokesman said last night that they were right behind the family.

He said: “We’re prepared to do everything we can to help the Downies. It’s very much a case of us being told what we need to do and we’ll do it, whether that is contacting the hospital and explaining the delay is a banking problem or getting cash to them.”