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

Escaping the ward with virtual reality

Monday 21 May 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.

Teri Jackson was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (a cancer of the blood and bone marrow) just before her year 12 exams.

“I was pretty much hospitalised from October until halfway through February and I only got a few days outside,” she says.

Meanwhile, her friends were enjoying one of the best summers on record.

But thanks to a helpful friend and innovative use of virtual reality (VR) technology, Teri got to experience a little bit of the world outside her room.

Teri met MRI technologist Peter Dooley a few times while getting scans.

“And he just kind of showed up one time in the ward and said ‘Here's a VR headset',” she says.

Peter has been working on using virtual reality to improve outcomes for patients.

He has successfully used VR to prepare young patients for MRI scans, resulting in fewer failed scans and because a general anaesthetic was needed less often, a much shorter wait time for a scan.

Peter wants to find new uses for VR, and says he was interested to see what Teri and her friends could do with the headset and a 360-degree camera.

Teri's friend Hunter Benbow took the camera out and made immersive movies and photos to be viewed on the headset.

“It was quite neat, I just set the camera up on a hill near Lake Lyndon. That was one trip. I also took it around town and took five-minute clips around the place. I even strapped it to the tractor,” Hunter says.

Peter says the process is helpful for the patient and also for family and friends who want to be involved.

“Teri was in a dark room, then she puts this headset on and all of a sudden she's up in the mountains, or she's on her mate's tractor,” he says.

“When someone gets sick the family and friends want to help, and there's not much they can do. This is a great way to include them.”

Teri says the technology has potential to improve hospital stays for a lot of long-term patients.

“It felt a little bit like an escape. Obviously, I couldn't go outside so having outside brought to me was pretty cool.”

ENDS

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Page last updated: 19 October 2022

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