On 8 September 2022 Buckingham Palace announced the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen dedicated her life to public service and it was our proudest moment when she awarded NHS staff the George Cross earlier this year, for our compassion and courage over the last 74 years, but particularly during the pandemic.

The Queen touched the lives of so many, and our heartfelt condolences go to the Royal family. A period of national mourning has started and will continue until the end of the day of the state funeral on 19 September 2022.

If you need support at this sad time, there is lots of help available:

• Psychological therapies support emails and phone calls are responded to Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm
• Cheshire and Merseyside Resilience Hub is available between 9am and 5pm
• Crisis Lines remain open 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

All NHS organisations must follow the mourning guidance set out by the Cabinet Office. This includes minimising communication to only that of operational business, and maintaining patient communication about the services we provide.

Public facing events and webinars, that are not operationally required and are celebratory, should be postponed until after the mourning period. Examples of events which will be postponed are: the Carers Celebration and the Executive Q&A. Once we have confirmation of the funeral date, and end of the official mourning period, we will review meetings and other scheduled events to understand if and when they will take place.

As a mark of respect, our flags have been lowered at sites. Our official social media channels and internal communications will focus on operational business only, and therefore only the YourWeek newsletter will be issued on Mondays until further notice. Updates will still be available via YourSpace.

Please consider the use of your personal social media platforms and remain respectful at all times.

Book of condolence

A book of condolence is now available on the Royal website.

We will share further information and updates as they become available.

National moment of reflection

On Sunday 18 September at 8pm, a national one minute moment of reflection will take place.  Please make local arrangements to observe.

Two minute silence

There will be a two minute silence at the end of the state funeral service on Monday 19 September. This will be at approximately 11.55am. Please make local arrangements to observe.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll funeral

Government has publicly declared 19 September a bank holiday which means that Mersey Care will deliver services as we would on any other bank holiday.

ESR and roster systems will be updated centrally with the entitlement for the additional bank holiday, and this will be completed by close of play today.

You will then be able to book the bank holiday, or if you already have leave booked on this date, your manager will be able to cancel or amend this leave for you. To book the bank holiday, please use your Employee Online Account and follow the normal process for booking bank holidays.

Please note the allowance will be pro-rated for part time colleagues as per all bank holiday entitlements.

Will managers please ensure that all colleagues in your team/service who are not working on the bank holiday have this recorded in roster? All normal shifts need to be removed from your roster and the bank holiday unavailability added. Failure to remove shifts that are not worked will result in staff being paid for the bank holiday when they’re not entitled (an over payment).

The roster is set up to attract usual bank holiday enhancements when a shift is worked on 19 September. Please note enhancements will follow Agenda for Change terms and conditions.