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

Canterbury DHB’s performance strong despite challenges

Tuesday 21 February 2017Media release2 minutes to read

The Canterbury DHB's performance in Quarter 2 of the 2016/2017 National Health Targets has remained strong despite several challenging disruptions.

Canterbury DHB chief executive David Meates says the Civil Defence Emergency declared as a result of the North Canterbury earthquakes and the Resident Doctors' Association's strikes during Quarter 2 caused significant additional work and distractions for our health system.

“Despite our health system facing troubling circumstances yet again, our staff have done an incredibly remarkable job to ensure services continue to be provided,” Mr Meates says.

The Canterbury DHB was back on track in Quarter 2, meeting the Shorter Stay in the Emergency Department (ED) 95 percent target.

Mr Meates says initiatives to support target performance have included the implementation of strategies to manage demand in the community and improve flow in ED and the hospital.

“This is impressive, especially considering our ED is one of the busiest trauma centres in the country.”

Mr Meates says the supports in place in the community, such as the Acute Demand Management Service, have meant more than 33,000 people in Canterbury have been provided care in the community over the last year, rather than being admitted into hospital.

“Our ‘Care Around the Clock' campaign has also played a part in ensuring people don't default to ED when they should be seen by their own GP team. The campaign has been promoted significantly during Quarter 2, reminding people to make their general practice their first call.”

For the sixth quarter in a row, Canterbury has achieved the immunisation target, vaccinating 95 percent of eligible children.

“We had strong coverage rates across all population groups meeting the health target for all this quarter,” Mr Meates says.

The rates were Asian 97 percent, Pacific 96 percent, New Zealand European 95 percent and Māori 95 percent.

“This is a significant achievement, showing the results of the ongoing commitment from immunisation teams in primary care right across our system.”

Canterbury's performance against the Faster Cancer Treatment target in Quarter 2,saw 84.8 percent of patients received their first cancer treatment (or other management) within 62 days of being referred with a high suspicion of cancer.

“Our teams are continuously working to improve the capture and quality of the Fast Cancer Treatment data, and reviewing patient pathways to improve timeliness,” Mr Meates says.

See how Canterbury DHB performed in Quarter 2 of the National Health Targets.

Tags

Back to Health News

Page last updated: 27 September 2018

Is this page useful?