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

CEO Update – Monday 10 August 2020

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Monday 10 August 2020Waitaha Canterbury Pānui2 minutes to read

In this edition of the CEO Update

CEO David Meates provides an update on the plan to roll-out the National Bowel Screening Programme in Canterbury. He also reports on the pop-up COVID-19 testing centre held in Christchurch over the weekend to ensure there is no community transmission here. More than 320 people turned up to be tested and David thanks them for their efforts, along with the health professionals who stepped up to carry out the testing. Lastly, David acknowledges the outpouring of messages and support he has received since he announced his resignation.

This issue also looks at how Canterbury DHB is the national host for InterRAI, an application used to assess an older person's care needs; how the role of Registered Nurses in Interventional Radiology has been re-defined and expanded; shares the benefits of a new environmentally friendlier ultrasound gel; looks at how the Pharmacy team stepped up during lockdown; promotes changes to plastic recycling rules, and much more.

You can read the Canterbury DHB CEO Update in two different formats:

View on issuu.com Download PDF (5MB)

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Page last updated: 10 August 2020

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