NHS staff help patients pay tribute to the Queen

Hundreds of thousands of NHS staff working over the Bank Holiday will help patients mark Queen Elizabeth II funeral in hospitals across England.

Urgent and emergency services will continue to be available on the Bank Holiday, including urgent dental and GP appointments, to enable the public to access NHS services the way they do every bank holiday, including through 111 online and 999 services in an emergency.

Patients using NHS services or in hospital on Monday will be helped to watch Her Majesty’s funeral, with staff encouraged to mark the occasion where possible.

Extra TV screens will be put on in wards, atriums and other public space in hospitals across the country from Royal Cornwall Hospital to Tameside and Glossop to show the funeral, while hospital radio stations will broadcast the service.

NHS staff at Mid Cheshire hospital are going ward to ward with iPads so patients who wish to sign the book of condolence online can do so.

While books of condolences have also been set up at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital.

Remembrance services are being held at Guy’s and St Thomas’, while services are also being held at St George’s Hospital chapel.

NHS staff in hospitals across England will also, wherever possible, observe the National Moment of Reflection on Sunday for a one-minute silence to reflect on Her Majesty’s life and legacy.

England’s top nurse thanked NHS staff across the country for working as they do every Bank Holiday to care for patients, while ensuring wherever possible patients and staff can mark Her Majesty’s passing.

Patients will continue to be able to access and urgent and emergency treatment and existing appointments for anything from elective surgery through to routine follow up appointments will go ahead where possible.

Dame Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer For England, said: “As the country rightly pauses to mark Queen Elizabeth II passing, hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers including nurses, clinicians, porters and other staff working in hospitals and our communities in England will ensure patients can also pay their respects, many of whom were deeply honoured when Her Majesty awarded the health service the George Cross earlier this year.”

“From staff going the extra mile to help patients sign the online book of condolence, through to hospital chaplains conducting remembrance services, NHS staff will do everything they can to ensure every patient has the chance to pay their respects.

“While urgent and emergency services will continue to be available on the Bank Holiday, including urgent dental and GP appointments, so the public should access NHS services in the usual way, including through 111 online or 999 in an emergency.”

At Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, the trusts lecture theatre will be showing the funeral to give as many staff as possible the opportunity to pay their respects.

The NHS Covid vaccination programme will continue on the Bank Holiday with tens of thousands of people booked in to receive their live-saving jab.