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

Canterbury System Level Measures Improvement Plan 2020/21

The System Level Measures Improvement Plan demonstrates the Canterbury Health System's commitment to improving the health outcomes of our population and our quality of service delivery.

System Level Measures (SLMs) are high level inspirational goals for the health system that align with the five strategic themes of the New Zealand Health Strategy and other national strategic priorities such as Better Public Services targets.

The SLMs and their contributory measures provide the Canterbury Health System with the opportunity to address key health outcomes for our population and focus on our local priorities. This Improvement Plan has been developed in response to the Ministry of Health's requirements for implementing the System Level Measures Framework. The new measures align with the Canterbury Outcomes Framework, are based on analysis of local trends and considered appropriate to the needs and priorities of our unique Canterbury population.

The Canterbury Clinical Network (CCN) led the development of this Improvement Plan, bringing together partners from across the system into the discussion and co-design. CCN's clinically-led Workstreams and Service Level Alliances, alongside a number of specialist work groups, will be the vehicles for driving improvement against these measures.

More information: http://nsfl.health.govt.nz/dhb-planning-package/system-level-measures-framework

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Page last updated: 21 July 2021

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