Queen's funeral: Hospital appointments cancelled on Monday

King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort, are in Northern Ireland as part of a tour of the UK

Some hospital appointments will be cancelled on Monday after it was confirmed the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II will be a bank holiday.

Aneurin Bevan health board, which covers the old county of Gwent, said planned appointments and clinics would not go ahead unless a case was urgent.

GP surgeries and most community pharmacies will also be closed.

The Welsh government said it expected health boards to operate as they would on normal bank holidays.

The Queen, Britain's longest reigning monarch, died on Thursday at her Scottish estate in Balmoral.

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A bank holiday across the UK was approved by King Charles III for the day of his mother's funeral.

The health board, which covers Newport, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly county and Monmouthshire, said it would contact patients to make alternative arrangements.

In a statement, it said: "Our urgent and emergency care services will continue on the bank holiday.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this unavoidable disruption to our services."

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Swansea Bay University Health Board said it would be postponing all routine outpatient appointments scheduled for Monday, but would continue with planned cancer and urgent surgery, as well as emergency care.

Other services such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and renal dialysis will also go ahead, with a bank holiday service.

GP surgeries will be closed, but its two Covid mass vaccination centres will be open.

Elsewhere, Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board confirmed all Covid autumn booster appointments in Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and Bridgend council areas will still go ahead.

All six of its community vaccination centres will be open on Monday but if anyone does not want to attend due to the funeral, they can rearrange.

King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort, were in Belfast on Tuesday as part of a tour of the UK

The health board's GP surgeries will be closed, as will NHS dentists, but a small number of pharmacies will stay open.

Cwm Taf said it was prioritising urgent care and procedures in hospitals and that most surgery, endoscopy and X-ray appointments would continue as normal.

It added that many specialist and acute clinics would go ahead, but some routine ones would be cancelled.

Hywel Dda health board, which covers Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, will be prioritising patients with urgent health care needs.

Chemotherapy units will be running normally and some urgent surgery will take place.

Some face-to-face outpatient appointments will go ahead, with some being held online.

GP surgeries and most pharmacies and dentists will be closed and anyone needing a repeat prescription has been told to arrange it in advance.

Betsi Cadwaladr health board, which covers north Wales, said anyone who had an appointment or procedure should assume it was going ahead as planned unless told otherwise.

Powys Teaching Health Board said it would contact patients if their appointments and operations need to be rearranged but Covid vaccinations would still go ahead.

GPs and dentists will also close and BBC Wales has asked all health boards what their plans are for Monday.

The Welsh government said it had written to all NHS organisations to ensure urgent and emergency services continue, along with planned care services with a particular focus on cancer and clinically urgent procedures.

"We are also asking organisations to ensure staff, patients and the public are made aware of any changes to services," a spokesman added.

An unforeseen bank holiday poses a number of challenges for the NHS, at a time when the pressure is already on to reduce the backlog and roll out booster vaccinations for the most vulnerable.

They will be at pains to ensure the most "clinically urgent" appointments, including cancer care, can continue.

When you consider one health board alone has 2,000 Covid vaccinations scheduled, you get a flavour of the volume of appointments impacted.

Add to that the availability of the workforce, a reduced public transport service and children being off school, it could throw regular shifts into disarray.

The same challenges will be faced by those scheduled to attend appointments, which means the risk of people simply not turning up increases.

Communication becomes the next challenge - whether that's finding out which staff are available or getting the message out to patients that services are carrying on, or subject to change.

The service was forced to cope with far bigger disruption at the height of the pandemic, but even one day can cause a significant challenge for patients and staff alike.

Health services are not the only areas making changes.

Cremations in Bridgend county and Pembrokeshire have been rescheduled, while Rhondda Cynon Taf said it would be up to families to decide if they wanted to go ahead with cremations or burials.

Pembrokeshire council has also suspended bin collections, as has Swansea and Flintshire council where schools, council buildings, libraries, museums, community centres.

Swansea Market will also be closed.

Museum Wales will close all of its seven museums and collections centre across the country.