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

CAFLink (Single Point of Entry)

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Urgent Care

If this is an emergency and you feel a child or youth is at risk of harm, please freephone:

0800 218 219 (Business Hours Monday - Friday) 

0800 920 092 (Afterhours, Weekends and Public Holidays)

CAFLink is the Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health Service 'single point of entry function' which streamlines access to mental health services in Canterbury for children, adolescents and their families.

All outpatient referrals to the service are centrally received at CAFLink. This includes referrals to the CAF North and CAF South Community and Outreach Teams.

As well as providing an easily identifiable point of entry to services, CAFLink ensures better quality and more consistent information to referrers, young people and their families. Referrals are centrally processed and this includes screening, referral to community agencies and triage into the service.

Access to other services

Referrals and accessing to SMHS outpatient services

Child & Adolescent Mental Health outpatient services (CAF North and CAF South Community and Outreach Teams are available for:

  • child/youth between 0-17 years, or if 18 years and still at secondary school contact CAF Link
  • he/she has a suspected or confirmed moderate to severe psychiatric disorder
  • he/she lives within Canterbury region

All non-urgent referrals to CAF Services come via GP and ERMS process.  If the child/youth does not have a GP then please contact CAF Link to discuss. 

For a mild to moderate mental health issue up to 13 years of age: please refer to Child and Family Services Mental Health Education & resource Centre. 

Referrers querying ADHD need to have a completed SNAP-IV Questionnaire (listed below) in addition we require SNAP-IV from both parents x 2 (or significant other) and school PLUS School Support for Health and Wellbeing Assessment. Send all these forms to child/youths GP for GP to make referral. 

​​Caddra SNAP Questionnaire (PDF) 
Instructions for Caddra SNAP Questionnaire (PDF)

School Support for Health and Wellbeing Assessment - Years 1-8 (Word DOCX, 40KB)

School Support for Health and Wellbeing Assessment - Years 9-13 (Word DOCX, 40KB)

GP’s should follow HealthPathways for ADHD referrals.

 

Page last updated: 25 January 2024

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