Operations and appointments could be cancelled on Monday at the Isle of Wight’s only hospital as Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral takes place.
The day of mourning has been made a Bank Holiday — with numerous shops shutting — to allow the public to observe the ceremony, although it is up to employers to decide whether staff will be given the day off.
Non-urgent procedures and clinical appointments
News outlet, openDemocracy reported some NHS trusts have announced all non-urgent procedures and clinical appointments would be postponed, including hip and knee replacements, cataract surgeries, maternity checks and some cancer treatments.
NHS England told openDemocracy the decision to postpone appointments was to be made by NHS trusts locally.
IW NHS: Still trying to work through its plans
The Isle of Wight NHS Trust, based at St Mary’s Hospital in Newport, has said it is still trying to work through its plans for Monday.
A spokesperson said if any patients are affected, they will be contacted directly.
GP practices
It has also been announced by NHS England, GP practices can close on the day of the funeral, but suitable out-of-hours treatment must be accessible.
The Island’s health service is still in the process of recovering from the surgical backlog caused by the Covid pandemic.
Congestion at hospital
It is also dealing with congestion in the hospital, which sees on average two wards full of patients who could be discharged, but have no care in place should they leave.
With beds full of patients, there are difficulties and long waits to admit patients through the emergency department or for their much-needed surgical procedures.
The lack of beds at the hospital has, previously, caused the elective surgery programme at St Mary’s to stop, which delays more procedures.
Death of The Queen
The Queen died last Thursday, 8th September, at the age of 96-years-old at her Balmoral estate.
Earlier in the day, Buckingham Palace had announced Her Majesty was under medical observation.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
Image: Jafar Ahmed under CC BY 2.0
