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

Green light for new Akaroa health facility

Friday 21 October 2016Media release3 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.

​The Akaroa community and Canterbury DHB's commitment to a 12 bed facility for Akaroa has been confirmed.

The board has approved a Heads of Agreement between Canterbury DHB, the Akaroa Community Trust and Akaroa Health Hub Limited.

The board also noted the Akaroa Structure Group's commitment to contribute $2.5 million over four years and its own proposal to proceed with development.

Murray Cleverley, Canterbury DHB chairman, says the board has remained committed to ensuring the Akaroa community could find a solution to ensure sustainable health services, after the February 22, 2011 earthquake caused significant damage to the old hospital.

“I'm absolutely thrilled Canterbury DHB and the Akaroa Structure Group are working together to develop the new facility,” Mr Cleverley says.

A model of care is being developed with the Akaroa health providers and community that will underpin a service contract with the proposed new provider.

Mr Cleverley says the Canterbury DHB will own the facility and provide a lease to the proposed community service provider Akaroa Health Hub Limited.

“At this stage there's still a bit of preliminary work to do around obtaining resource consents and getting the designs finalised.

“But on the basis of the community's intended contribution of $2.5 million, Canterbury DHB has awarded tenders for the design, which the users will have input into.”

Mr Cleverley acknowledged a solution for Akaroa has been a long time in the making.

“This was one of those situations we couldn't rush and we appreciate the community's patience and resilience to find a solution that works best for everyone because the biggest waste of health dollars is building facilities that aren't fit for purpose and don't meet the needs of the community,” he says.

“We think the collaborative efforts to work closely with the community will ensure we get this right.”

Alan Bradford, Akaroa Structure Group chairman, says they're delighted a Heads of Agreement has been reached and plans are coming together.

“We are very grateful that the Canterbury DHB has continued to support us in the time since we lost our old Hospital and we are looking forward to working closely with them in the future.

“It's really exciting to have something finally locked in to work towards.

“We want the best for our community. A special thanks to all those in the Structure Group who have given so much time to ensure that Akaroa and the Community will get a fit for purpose medical facility that we can all be very proud of.

“We're extremely positive we will reach our $2.5 million target, as there's incredible support from the community to get there.”

ENDS

Tags

Back to Health News

Page last updated: 19 October 2022

Is this page useful?