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

Consumer Council

We are continuously looking at ways of improving service and the user of those services is the best person to answer how we can do that. We have a number of different ways of gathering feedback to help us “listen to the voice of the consumer”.

When a consumer's experience of our health services doesn't meet their expectations, we want to hear about it. Another way we get feedback on how we can improve the consumer experience of our health care services is through the Consumer Council.

The Consumer Council was set up in 2008 as a way for consumers to have a strong voice in planning, designing and delivering services in Canterbury. The Consumer Council's slogan is “Nothing about us, without us”, because we believe health care should always be planned with consumer involvement, right from the beginning.

The consumer council is invited to participate in, and comment on, many initiatives to enhance the patient's experience. It has a regular commitment to the Xcelr8 – the business of caring programme that has been designed to develop our health system leaders. This has included consumer input into the development of eSCRV – Electronic clinical information sharing, the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Working Group (PRWG), the development of Advanced Care Plans and participation in the design forum for Burwood Hospital to name just a few.

Council members also sit on most of the Canterbury Clinical Network's Service Level Alliances including the overarching group, the Alliance Leadership Team. These Service Level Alliances are made up of groups of people with expertise in a particular health service. The group works together on ways to improve the way services are provided. This enables consumers to work in partnership with clinicians and health managers at a senior level, to influence the transformational change of our health system.

Consumer Council members

The council is made up of a diverse range of people with ethnic backgrounds and areas of interest that include Māori health, Pacific health, mental health, people with long-term conditions, people with physical, intellectual and sensory disabilities, older people, youth, men, women, rural communities, people with visual and hearing impairment and people with alcohol and other drug addictions.

Consumer Council Biographies, May 2022 (PDF, 300KB)

The structure of the Consumer Council

Council members are nominated by consumers and consumer lobby and advocacy groups. Collectively they have a broad range of understanding and experience of how it feels to be a consumer and what consumers need.

Consumer Council Structure, December 2020 (PDF, 100KB)

Terms of Reference

Consumer Council Terms of Reference (PDF, 400KB)

News and Publications

Resources (IHI and HQS Commission documents)

Latest published meeting minutes

Consumer Council Meeting Minutes – 13 July 2022 (PDF, 200KB)

The Consumer Council meets on the second Wednesday of every month.

Archive of meeting minutes

Previous meeting agenda papers and minutes can be viewed in the document library. 

Minutes for all meetings are available to the public, please contact consumercouncil@cdhb.health.nz if you would like copies.

Contact us

Kathy O’Neill, Team Leader, Planning & Funding, Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand Waitaha Canterbury
Email: consumercouncil@cdhb.health.nz

Address

Consumer Council
Planning & Funding
Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand Waitaha Canterbury
32 Oxford Terrace
Christchurch

Postal address

Consumer Council
Planning & Funding
Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand Waitaha Canterbury
PO Box 1600
Christchurch

Page last updated: 1 September 2022

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