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 welcomes quadruplets born at Christchurch Women’s Hospital

Tuesday 27 November 2018Media 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.
Quadruplets born at Christchurch Women's Hospital.

Quadruplets born at Christchurch Women's Hospital.

Christchurch Women’s Hospital (CWH) is celebrating the recent arrival of quadruplets, born at its maternity unit to a Timaru couple.

While the hospital has seen an increased number of multiple births in recent times, quadruplets are extremely rare.

The babies – three girls and one boy – were delivered via caesarean section at 28 weeks and 4 days gestation and, since their birth in August, were resident in CWH’s neonatal unit they were able to go home earlier this month.

Consultant Obstetrician Lisa Rofe who was on call at the time, says planning for the delivery began several weeks in advance and involved teams from fetal medicine, neonatal, midwifery and anaesthetics.

For the delivery of the quadruplets, two adjacent birthing theatres were used with specialist teams designated to each baby.

Dr Rofe says it was an extremely organised delivery, and one with an especially joyous and exciting atmosphere. “For our medical , nursing and midwifery teams present it was most definitely a once-in-a-career event, and a real privilege to be a part of. To have such a good outcome for mother and babies was a huge relief, due in part to the full team involved in pre-planning.”

The obstetrician who delivered the four babies, and does not wish to be named, agreed that the birth “went exactly to plan”, right down to the double labelling of the clamps used to cut the umbilical cords, to ensure there were no mix-ups.

The risks involved with a multiple birth pregnancy include miscarriage, extreme prematurity and growth issues, while the mother must be monitored frequently for signs of anaemia and pre-eclampsia.

In this instance the quadruplets comprised one set of identical twin girls who shared the same placenta, and fraternal twins – a boy and girl.

Canterbury DHB congratulates the Macdonald family on their new arrivals, and wishes them all a healthy and happy future.

ENDS

For more information, contact:
Canterbury DHB Media Advisor
027 567 5343

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Page last updated: 19 October 2022

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