VISITING HOSPITAL

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

Last updated:
31 October 2024

Some visitor restrictions for all Health New Zealand | 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 we encourage 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 are advised to not visit our facilities if they are unwell. We advise that you 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 encouraged to be worn at all sites. Masks will be provided if you don’t have one.
  • Please practice hand hygiene with provided alcohol-based hand rub/gel

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 a surgical mask as a minimum – please use surgical masks provided.

All of our Hospitals

Visiting hours for our hospitals have returned to pre COVID-19 hours.

All visitors are encouraged to wear a medical face mask.

Parents/caregivers can be with their child in hospital and visitors are now allowed, except for the Children’s Haematology and Oncology Day stay where visitor restrictions might apply.

Patients and visitors can also read the additional COVID-19 related visiting guidelines .

Infection Prevention and Control Service

Vision

Healthcare-associated infections and the spread of harmful pathogens across the healthcare system is minimised through excellence in IPC practice. There is a deeply embedded culture among staff whereby best practice to minimise infection risk to patients, staff and visitors to healthcare facilities is the accepted norm.

Purpose

The IPC Service delivers quality infection prevention and control services to minimise the occurrence and spread of infection across the healthcare system. It promotes excellence in IPC practice and strategically deploys its resources to improve safety for patients, staff and visitors to our health care facilities.

Infection Prevention and Control Advisory Committee

Oversight and governance for the IPC Service is provided by the Infection Prevention and Control Advisory Committee (IPCAC). Membership includes a senior Infectious Disease Physician, a senior Clinical Microbiologist, a senior Public Health Physician, the Nursing Director – Infection Prevention and Control, the Clinical Director – Infection Prevention and Control, a senior Primary Care General Practitioner and a senior Primary Care Nursing Leader.

IPC Service Operational Team

The IPC Service is led by the Nursing Director – Infection Prevention and Control and the Clinical Director – Infection Prevention and Control. The team includes Clinical Nurse Specialists and Registered Nurses with the range of skills and expertise necessary to implement, co-ordinate and document delivery of the annual IPC programme Ashburton and Rural Health Services, Burwood Hospital (Older Persons Health and Rehabilitation Service), Community Services, Medical & Surgical Services, Specialist Mental Health Service, and Woman’s and Child Health.

Contact

Email: IPCNursing@cdhb.health.nz
Phone: (03) 378 6966 

Out-of-hours advice is provided by the Medical Microbiologist on-call, who can be reached via the Christchurch Hospital switchboard (03) 364 0640

Page last updated: 11 January 2023

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