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 DHB – Changes to visiting at Alert Level 2

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Tuesday 16 February 2021Media release2 minutes to read

THIS IS AN ARCHIVED PAGE. The advice and information contained in this page may not be current and it should only be used for historical reference purposes.
Canterbury DHB – Changes to visiting at Alert Level 2

Canterbury DHB – Changes to visiting at Alert Level 2

Canterbury DHB has made changes to its visitor policy effective from tomorrow, Tuesday 16 February 2021.  These changes can be viewed on our website, however, some general rules apply to all of our facilities:

  • People should not visit if they are sick.
  • All visitors must sign in using the Covid Tracer App (by scanning the QR code) or provide their contact details manually on arrival.
  • Please make sure Bluetooth tracing is turned on your the NZ Covid Tracer app.
  • Visitors are asked to bring their own mask or fabric face covering.
  • All visitors are expected to practice physical distancing: they should remain two metres away from people they don’t know.
  • Everyone, including visitors should practise good hand hygiene.

For details of specific changes please check our COVID-19 information page 

Key changes include:

One person visiting at a time at Christchurch Hospital. Visiting hours at Christchurch Hospital including Waipapa are from 3pm – 8pm.

At Burwood Hospital visiting hours are from 11am – 7pm with only one person visiting at a time.

At Christchurch Women’s Hospital women can have one named visitor for the duration of their postnatal stay.

For Child Health Services, parents/caregivers can visit at any time, and both parents/caregivers can visit at the same time.

Outpatients – only one person should accompany each patient coming in for an outpatient appointment.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding as we all work to protect our vulnerable patients and staff.

Anyone with planned surgery or an outpatient appointment should still turn up as planned – if there’s any change to your appointment, we’ll contact you directly.

ENDS

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Page last updated: 19 August 2021

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