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

 Free COVID testing is also available through many General Practices as well as at Community-based Testing Centres in Canterbury

Saturday 21 August 2021Media release4 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.

Covid-19

 Free COVID testing is also available through many General Practices as well as at Community-based Testing Centres in Canterbury

 Free COVID testing is also available through many General Practices as well as at Community-based Testing Centres in Canterbury

Canterbury Health Laboratories, part of Canterbury DHB, processed more than 4000 COVID-19 test swabs yesterday – a record for local testing. This included swabs taken at the drop-in CBTCs (community-based testing centres) and in general practice.

Dr Helen Skinner, Senior Responsible Officer for the COVID-19 response, Canterbury DHB says this is a great cross-system response that will help keep Canterbury people safe by discovering any community cases of COVID-19 early and allowing contact-tracing to respond quickly if needed.

“I’d like to emphasise though, that there are no cases of COVID-19 in our community and none being treated in any Canterbury DHB facility at this time. We’d very much like to keep it that way, and I would like to thank our Canterbury public for playing their part by sticking to the Alert Level 4 rules and stepping up to get tested when they have symptoms, or if they have been to one of the locations of interest.”

“We know and acknowledge that there have been longer waits for testing than we would have liked this week. We are doing all we can to meet the unprecedented demand while continuing our drive to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible. Be kind to one another and to our dedicated staff who are there to help you and have been working long hours, on the front line and behind the scenes, to get things done,” Dr Skinner says.

As well as at our Community-based Testing Centres, testing is also available across general practice teams, with some having significant capacity currently. People can see call their own General Practice and ask, or see the list below for which practices are testing over the weekend, and their opening times. Note, some are only testing patients who are enrolled there or by appointment.

COVID-19 Community Based Testing Centres (CBACs) in Christchurch and Canterbury

No on-demand or walk-in COVID-19 testing is being carried out at Christchurch Hospital.

General Practice and Urgent Care Testing available this weekend (Saturday 21- Sunday 22 August)

Rural After Hours Services – Testing available by appointment only (Saturday 21- Sunday 22 August)

More information on testing is here and if you save the link you will be able to check for changes: https://www.cdhb.health.nz/your-health/canterbury-dhb-covid-19-information/#4

Masks or face coverings must be worn at all times at Canterbury DHB sites and will be provided if people don’t have them. There are exceptions for people who have conditions or a disability that makes wearing a face covering inappropriate. The new rules for masks that apply nationwide are here. Hand sanitiser stations are available and should 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: 28 February 2024

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