Stockport NHS has issued guidance for its patients amidst a global Microsoft outage affecting emails and other digital services.

The local NHS trust said patients should get in touch by phone if they are awaiting urgent information.

"If you are expecting urgent information from us via email, please contact the service directly via telephone", a spokesperson said.

"Further updates will be provided in due course."

The global outage is affecting Outlook emails and other key Microsoft services.

The tech giant said overloaded servers was the reason behind the outage.

Around 430 million people use Microsoft services worldwide, with the outage having a serious effect on GPs, pharmacies, schools, businesses, and more.

Having been down since Thursday, the BBC reports that it could be the most disruptive software outage 'of all time'.

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