‘Thousands of hospital appointments cancelled’ because of Queen’s funeral

Queen’s state funeral will be held on 19 September

Thousands of hospital appointments have been cancelled because of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral on 19 September, which has been declared a bank holiday.

Several NHS trusts have urged all "non-urgent” procedures and appointments" to be postponed, including replacement surgeries, eye surgery, maternity checks and cancer treatments, according to the independent global media platform openDemocracy.

Several patients waiting months for their surgery had their appointment cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances".

Doctors at one of the London hospitals were told the day of the state funeral would be treated as a bank holiday "so please go ahead and start rescheduling patients".

However, Covid-19 vaccination services and emergency appointments would reportedly continue.

The Queen died at Balmoral, Scotland, on 8 September, aged 96, after serving for 70 years as Britain’s head of the state — the longest-reigning monarch in the country’s history. The British government announced that the day of her funeral will be marked as a national bank holiday.

A text message from the NHS informed a pregnant woman that due to “unforeseen circumstances” her appointment has been cancelled and a new date “will be rescheduled shortly”.

When she tried to reschedule her appointment, she was placed on hold for hours, according to openDemocracy.

“I’m really disappointed,” she said.

“Yes, it’s a routine scan, but that’s another week or two until I’m seen and wondering whether my baby is healthy – which means quite a lot of anxiety, sitting and waiting,” she said.

Bedfordshire Hospitals Foundation Trust told patients on Monday evening; “Following the announcement of the plans for the late Her Majesty The Queen’s state funeral on Monday 19 September 2022, some non-urgent planned care appointments/procedures across Bedfordshire Hospitals will be postponed. We will contact all relevant patients if their appointment or procedure is to be re-scheduled.”

The Liverpool Women’s Hospital has warned patients that there will be changes on the day of the Queen’s funeral.

“We understand patients with appointments on 19.09.22 will be awaiting updates in light of the Queen’s funeral and national holiday announcement,” a spokesperson for the hospital said in a statement.

“The Trust will be continuing with clinical activity but some changes to appointments may occur, please wait to be contacted directly.”

In a letter signed by Ursula Montgomery, the director of primary care of NHS England, general practitioners were told they would contractually be allowed to close for their core services. But it added that local health boards would need to “urgently work to ensure sufficient out-of-hours services capacity is in place”.

The cancellations come at a time when a record high of nearly 6.8 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of July.

Of those waiting for NHS treatment following a referral, 377,689 patients had waited more than 52 weeks in July, and 2,885 patients had waited more than 104 weeks.