Keep in mind, I’m not denying that there have been significant crowds out for everything involving Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, procession and lying in state. Thousands of people have come out in London and Edinburgh and flowers have been left at various royal properties. I mentioned on Twitter the other day that I thought the BBC newscasters were overestimating the number of people in various crowds, and various people started yelling at me, like I was trying to say no one has come out for QEII. I still say that certain broadcasters were – and perhaps still are – overestimating the number of people out. There seems to be a very specific need to “hype” this eleven/twelve day mourning period as so much bigger and more significant than… um, the wall-to-wall crowds when Princess Diana died.
I bring this up because I think other people are overestimating the level of the public’s grief too, to the point where too many needed services are being canceled. The NHS is literally canceling cancer treatments and maternity checks because of the Queen’s funeral.
Thousands of hospital patients across the United Kingdom are having their appointments canceled on Monday due to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. The late monarch, who died Sept. 8 at the age of 96, will have a state funeral and many National Health Service (NHS) trusts are canceling “non-urgent” appointments and procedures due to the holiday.
Doctors at one London hospital were reportedly told, “The day of the State Funeral will be treated as a bank holiday so please go ahead and start rescheduling patients,” according to OpenDemocracy.
Canceled appointments include hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery, maternity checks and some cancer treatments, the outlet reports. A pregnant woman told OpenDemocracy that her fetal scan at a different London hospital trust has been canceled due to the Queen’s funeral.
“I’m really disappointed,” she shared. “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.”
However, COVID-19 vaccination appointments and emergency services will continue as planned.
Prior to the cancellations, hospital waiting lists reached an all-time high with 6.8 million patients waiting for medical appointments at the end of July and more than 377,000 people not receiving care for more than a year.
[From People]
This is… wrong. Completely wrong. On a technical level, shouldn’t it be up to hospitals and doctors as to whether they want to take the day off or see patients as usual? It’s insane – yes, while some of this stuff is not life-or-death, neither is publicly mourning the death of a 96-year-old woman.
In addition to the maternity screenings and CANCER TREATMENTS, various much-needed non-profit services are shutting down for the funeral too. There are several food banks in the UK closing down on Monday, many in the greater London area. Oh, and bloody Stonehenge is shutting down too! So are all of the museums.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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