VISITING HOSPITAL

All hospital visitors are recommended to wear a medical face mask. Expand this message for information about visiting hospital.

Last updated:
13 March 2023

Some visitor restrictions for all Te Whatu Ora Waitaha Canterbury hospitals and health facilities remain in place, but we have relaxed others.

There is still a heightened risk to vulnerable people in hospital and so we recommend all people wear a mask when visiting any of our facilities and follow other advice designed to keep patients, staff and  visitors safe.

To keep everybody safe:

  • Visitors or support people must not visit our facilities if they are unwell. Do not visit if you have recently tested positive for COVID-19 and haven’t completed your isolation period.
  • Patients may have more than one visitor, except in some situations such as multi-bed rooms where it can cause overcrowding.
  • Surgical/medical masks are recommended to be worn at all sites. Masks will be provided if you don’t have one.
  • For Specialist Mental Health Services everyone is strongly encouraged to wear a face mask in all inpatient areas and areas where consumers are receiving care (i.e. community appointments, home-visits, transporting people). Discretion may be applied in cases where masks impair your ability to communicate effectively.
  • Visitors must not eat or drink in multibed rooms because of the increased risk when multiple people remove their face mask in the same space.
  • Hand sanitiser is available and must be used.

Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding as our staff work hard to protect and care for some of the most vulnerable in our community.

Visiting patients with COVID-19

  • People can visit patients who have COVID-19 but they must wear an N95 mask – this will be provided if you don’t have one.
  • Other methods of communication will be facilitated e.g. phone, Facetime, Zoom, WhatsApp etc where visits aren’t possible.

All of our Hospitals

Visiting hours for our hospitals have returned to pre COVID-19 hours with the exception of Christchurch Women’s Hospital.

All visitors are recommended to wear a medical face mask.

Parents/caregivers are able to be with their child in hospital and visitors are now allowed, except for the Children’s Haematology and Oncology Day stay where just one parent/caregiver is able to attend their appointment with their child. Exceptions by special arrangement only.

Patients and visitors should also read the additional more detailed visiting guidelines for each specific hospital.

More COVID-19 information

Awards and recognition

Gold award for Canterbury in energy management 

Energy Mark GoldHealth New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora Canterbury Waitaha is the proud holder of an Energy-Mark Gold Award for energy management – only the second organisation in New Zealand to do so.

Described as the “ultimate step in the energy management journey” in New Zealand, a Gold Award is a very significant achievement for the organisation, especially for our Maintenance and Engineering team who have worked very hard behind the scenes to make sure that our energy systems are as good as they can possibly be.

We have already earned our Bronze and Silver awards from Enviro-Mark Solutions, the leading provider of environmental certification in New Zealand. A Gold award means that we are now running our energy systems to ISO50001, the international gold standard for energy management. Certification as an Energy-Mark Gold organisation is complicated, but the organisation achieved it “without findings” – in other words, without any corrective measures being required.

“This is a major achievement for the Canterbury district,” says Dr Belinda Mathers, General Manager Technical from Enviro-Mark Solutions. “With a bespoke approach to energy management now in place across all sites, the district can be proud of achieving international best-practice in energy use, performance and efficiency. We look forward to seeing the effects of future developments such as the proposed wood-waste boilers at the Christchurch Hospital campus on your energy use and management.

Energy-Mark Gold certified organisations have robust processes for making the information within the energy management system accessible and keeping it up to date. The organisation regularly performs internal audits of the management system and top management reviews the strategy of the energy management system

Since 2001, Enviro-Mark Solutions’ environmental certification schemes have ensured that New Zealand companies and organisations benefit from international best practice, applied science, and effective tools. Enviro-Mark Solutions is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Landcare Research, a Government-owned Crown Research Institute.

Page last updated: 26 March 2024

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