Queen Elizabeth funeral: Doctors warn: 5000 surgeries will be canned

Doctors are predicting 5000 ­patients will have elective surgeries cancelled on Thursday when the country observes a one-off public holiday to mourn the death of the Queen.

The Australian Medical ­Association is calling for whoever organised the national day of mourning to apologise to affected patients and their families. Picture: iStock

Doctors are predicting 5000 ­patients will have elective surgeries cancelled on Thursday when the country observes a one-off public holiday to mourn the death of the Queen.

The Australian Medical ­Association is calling for whoever organised the national day of mourning to apologise to affected patients and their families, amid warnings it would have a domino effect on the healthcare system.

It comes as Health Minister Mark Butler conceded elective surgeries would be impacted.

Asked on Monday what disruption he expected to elective surgery nationally, Mr Butler said: “People understand that Thursday is a particularly important day to mourn the loss of the Queen.

“That will have an impact on the community, there’s no doubt about that, but this is an incredibly important day for us to mourn the loss of the Queen, and beyond that to move on.”

After announcing $1.4bn to ­extend Covid response measures to the end of the year, Mr Butler also said he was “very sure” the government would need to retain some measures in 2023.

AMA president Steve Robson calculated that about 5000 elective surgeries would be affected on Thursday.

A further 5000 people may then have to have their operations rescheduled in order to accommodate the public holiday cancel­lations.

“We’re not dissing the Queen,” Dr Robson, who has labelled ­organisation of the public holiday “shambolic”, said.

“If you call a public holiday at short notice, there will be an impact and patients have waited and waited and waited.

“It is going to be a disruption for other people as well who potentially have their operations cancelled to allow for people from Thursday to have their operations.

“It has a domino effect right through. For those of us who work in health, the minute we heard the announcement we thought ‘This is going to bugger up a day of operating around the country’.

“Then we heard Albo say ‘common sense will prevail’. We thought ‘We’ll believe that when we see it’.”

Anthony Albanese declared last week that the idea operations would not occur during a public holiday was “of course not correct” and medical procedures were ­always a priority.

The Prime Minister has said the national day of mourning had been arranged “for a long period of time” but has not specified by whom.

Government sources confirmed the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet had been working with Buckingham Palace for many years on Australia’s plans for observance on the passing of the Queen.

Dr Robson said the person or department responsible for the day should explain to affected families its significance and apologise. “Just apologise and say ‘we probably didn’t think it through, we recognise it’s going to affect lots of people around the country. We’re sorry but honouring the Queen’s important,’ ” he said.

“There’s been a lull in Covid cases and there’s an opportunity to clear the backlog. I’m sure there will be a lot of annoyed patients and families around the country.”

Employers are also being warned they could lose more than $460m from workers throwing a “sickie” on Friday to take advantage of a four-day weekend.

Employment services firm Finder said businesses were facing a spike in absenteeism at the end of the working week. “Workers are trying to take advantage of the bonus public holiday by turning it into an extra long weekend,” Finder personal finance specialist Taylor Blackburn said.

“This is how Black Friday got its name in the US – with the Thanksgiving holiday always on Thursday, many workers would not come in on the Friday – hence it was a dark day for owners.”

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said there was “no doubt” the public holiday would inconvenience many businesses. “It is also acknowledged that this is an exceptional circumstance,” he said. “Employers will be expecting staff to work on Friday unless prior arrangements for leave have been made.”