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

Good hand hygiene is no laughing matter

Friday 20 May 2016Media 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.

Canterbury District Health Board is working with the Clown Doctors to emphasise the importance of having clean hands to patients and staff.

Hand Hygiene New Zealand's latest audit period ending (March 2016) showed Canterbury DHB achieved the hand hygiene compliance rate of 78%, just short of the national target of 80%.

To help boost Canterbury DHB's performance, the Hand Hygiene Governance Group launched the “It's OK to ask me” campaign on World Health Organisation's Hand Hygiene Day at the beginning of May. The campaign encourages patients in Canterbury DHB hospital facilities to ask their carer if their hands are clean.

Canterbury and West Coast DHB Chief Executive, David Meates says it is a timely reminder that the simplest and most important patient intervention that keeps patients safe is good hand hygiene.

“We care for people who are particularly vulnerable. It is part of our duty of care to protect them from easily preventable infection. Our staff do their very best to follow best hand hygiene practice, but an extra reminder from our patients can only be helpful. We encourage those in our care to get behind this campaign – It's OK to ask!” says Mr Meates.

Among the tools being used to inform patients and enlist their help are some very entertaining videos featuring CDHB staff, patients and the Clown Doctors.

Programme Director and Team Co-Ordinator of The Clown Doctors New Zealand Charitable Trust, Rita Noetzel, says that good hygiene is front of mind for the Clown Doctors.

“We are very mindful that while we are bringing joy and laughter to people in hospitals, we don't want to bring anything else. We come in contact with people who are not well and are very susceptible to germs. Everything we do incorporates good hand hygiene, so we are delighted to be working with Canterbury DHB staff to prompt patients to ask,” says Ms Noetzel.

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Page last updated: 19 October 2022

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