Britain's longest-ever reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8 2022 and with her death, Britain has gone into a period of national mourning. According to the BBC, King Charles III has approved Queen Elizabeth’s funeral day, Monday 19 September as a bank holiday.
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Due to this, a variety of services would be closed all across the UK on Monday. While the closure of things such as food joints and schools might not be that big of a deal for the general public, the additional announcement that places such as food banks and even hospitals would be closed for the funeral has attracted criticism and public outrage.
As reported by the Independent, the closure of essential services such as food banks and hospital appointment cancellations owing to the bank holiday has left many Brits high and dry.
Outrage against the closure of hospitals
As per TheIndependent, the news has sparked outrage and frustration in equal measure.
A man took to Twitter to express his frustration about the fact that his wife’s breast cancer appointment was cancelled due to the bank holiday.
wife's breast cancer appointment cancelled Monday, which means all breast cancer appointments are cancelled on Monday. She has a new one in a month. I'm sure she'll be fine, but that's a wait that will almost certainly cost lives. This is an obscenity, in the name of the monarchy
— matt (@matted1) September 13, 2022
A person responded to the Tweet saying,
Ridiculous decision. Hospitals should continue as normal they’re so far behind already.
The Independent also reported that doctors at a London hospital were told:
The day of the State Funeral will be treated as a bank holiday so please go ahead and start rescheduling patients.
An NHS spokesperson responded to these concerns by saying,
As with any Bank Holiday, NHS staff will work to ensure that urgent and emergency services, including urgent dental and GP appointments, are available — and patients will be contacted by their local trusts, if necessary, regarding their existing appointments.
Closure of food banks attracts outcry
As per Cosmopolitan, similar outrage has been directed against food banks which have announced their closure on the day of the Queen’s funeral.
A person commented on Twitter saying,
People struggling with basic existence being made to mourn the dead (who had medics, and no doubt food, on call every moment of their very long and healthy life).
Owing to the widespread criticism from the public, some food banks have reversed their decision saying that they would remain open despite the bank holiday announcement.
Sources used:
'The planned closure of food banks and hospitals for the Queen's funeral has caused backlash', Cosmopolitan
'Bank holiday approved for day of Queen's funeral', BBC
'Outrage as NHS cancer appointments cancelled for Queen’s funeral', The Independent
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