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

Hospital Shuttle Marks One Million Passengers

Friday 7 December 2018Media 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.
CDHB ops manager George Schwass Shuttle driver Peter Parr and passenger Penny McCaull

CDHB ops manager George Schwass Shuttle driver Peter Parr and passenger Penny McCaull

Canterbury DHB’s hospital shuttle marks a significant milestone this week. The shuttle service has helped one million people get to and from the Christchurch Hospital campus in the four years that it has been operating.

The shuttle service started in October 2014 after work began to prepare the site behind Christchurch Women’s Hospital for construction of the new Acute Services building. Because of space constraints, the existing public car park at the rear of the hospital had to close, along with almost all staff parking. Parking on site was restricted to emergency and mobility parking only.

Acknowledging the significant need for helping people get to and from the hospital, the DHB begun running two shuttles between the hospital and the City Council’s Metro/Old Brewery public car park on St Asaph Street, a short distance away.

In the years since, we have increased the number of shuttles to four and have moved the whole operation twice, first to the Deans Ave site (the old saleyards) in December 2015 and this year in July to the Christchurch City Council’s Lichfield Street Car Park building at 33 Lichfield St – where passengers can now park under cover to catch the shuttle to the hospital.

 PLEASE NOTE THAT FROM 24 AUGUST 2020 THE SHUTTLE HAS MOVED TO THE DEANS AVENUE CAR PARK AND NO LONGER RUNS FROM LICHFIELD STREET CAR PARK. 

Canterbury DHB Chief Executive David Meates says the shuttle scheme was set up as a temporary stop-gap to help ease parking issues at the time.

“The hospital is a busy place with around 4,000 patient, staff, visitor and courier movements around the campus every day. We know that parking in the area is difficult and contributes to the stress people who are already in a stressful situation are feeling. We are still about two years out from a solution, so we appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding during this time.

“We continue to receive overwhelming support and praise for the consistently dedicated and professional manner of our shuttle drivers and volunteers. It’s a huge task to assist people – who are often frail and elderly – to come onto the campus in a timely manner for either their own appointments, or to visit or support friends or family, so we appreciate the hard work of everyone who helps keep the shuttle service moving so seamlessly.”

In its first month of operation the shuttles moved 2,546 people. Now there are more than 5,000 people a week using the shuttles.

ENDS

For more information, contact: Canterbury DHB Communications: communications@cdhb.health.nz

Tags

Back to Health News

Page last updated: 19 October 2022

Is this page useful?