Manx Care has announced that a number of its services will be affected by closures relating to the bank holiday on Monday, September 19, which was brought in to commemorate the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

The healthcare service said that the patients affected have been contacted and will be offered a rescheduled appointment within the coming days and weeks.

A spokesperson said: ‘We absolutely respect the fact that a bank holiday has been granted in line with the national mourning period as a mark of respect to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and this allows people the opportunity to pay their respects to Her Majesty and the Royal Family. While cancellations have been made, we have taken efforts to minimise the impact of this.

‘An estimated 750 patients have been contacted regarding cancellations across outpatient and inpatient services. For those who have had a surgical procedure cancelled, we aim to reschedule these within one month.

‘The patient information centre team is working on re-booking outpatient appointments which have been cancelled, but it isn’t possible to give an accurate timescale, however, we are trying to minimise the disruption for those patients affected.’

They added: ‘We are prioritising the delivery of cancer treatment and time-sensitive treatment.’

As GP surgeries will be closed, those who require an appointment on the day will have to use the Manx Emergency Doctor Service which can be contacted on 650355 or via email at [email protected].

Pharmacies will also be limited around the island with community pharmacy hours being covered by: Costains Pharmacy in Ballasalla between 9am and 11am; Lloyds Pharmacy in Shoprite in Ramsey between 10am and 11am; and Boots in Douglas between 10am and 11am aswell as 1pm and 4:30pm.

In a separate announcement, Manx Care said that there would be no routine GP appointments between 1pm and 6pm on Thursday, September 22, for an ‘education session.’ Anyone who urgently needs a doctor on this day should ring up to arrange one with the on-call GP.

The bank holiday closures this Monday are part of a number of closures and cancellations around the island as people and businesses pay respect to the Queen.