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

Care still available for patients with acute eye conditions, eye injection appointments still going ahead

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Wednesday 18 August 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.

Care for eye patients still available under Alert Level 4

Canterbury DHB is advising people with acute ophthalmology (eye) conditions to still seek the care they need. In addition, those with scheduled injection appointments with our Ophthalmology service should still attend their appointments following Alert Level 4 guidelines.

It is important these patients are seen by our Ophthalmology service, who are able to provide this care under their COVID-19 Alert Level 4 response plan.

Canterbury DHB has reinstated its no-visitor policy across all facilities in line with the Government’s Alert Level 4 lockdown announcement. There are some exceptions which are outlined here: https://www.cdhb.health.nz/media-release/information-for-visitors-and-patients/

Apart from the Ophthalmology advice mentioned above, unless you have been contacted by phone to advise that your outpatient appointment or planned (elective) surgery is going ahead tomorrow, please assume it has been postponed and do not turn up at hospital.

Masks or face coverings must be worn at all times at Canterbury DHB sites and will be provided if people don’t have them. Hand sanitiser stations are visible and must also be used.

Please scan in using the QR code, wherever you go using the government’s COVID-19 Tracer App, and ensure Bluetooth is turned on within the app – this means you’ll receive alerts if you’ve been exposed to a case.

ENDS

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Page last updated: 6 October 2021

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