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 can also read the additional COVID-19 related visiting guidelines .

Immunisation rates well covered for Canterbury

Tuesday 24 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.

Protecting our vulnerable children from diseases is high on the radar for Cantabrians, according to the latest National Health Target results.

Canterbury's performance in quarter three of the 2015/2016 targets show rates of immunisation continue to exceed the 95 percent target of all eight-month-olds having their primary course of immunisations on time.

David Meates, Canterbury DHB chief executive, says the coverage remains impressive and reflects great efforts from primary care to ensure our vulnerable children are immunised.

“We are seeing some really great immunisation results, with excellent coverage across all ethnicities. I'm proud to say that 100 percent of Pacific Island, 97 percent of European and Asian, and 96 percent of Maori children are getting their vaccinations,” Mr Meates says.

“It highlights the excellent integration across the Canterbury Health System to ensure our newest generations have the best possible start in life.”

Meanwhile despite growing presentation numbers to Christchurch Hospital's Emergency Department, Canterbury's performance against the ED target remains positive, achieving the 95 percent target for the third quarter running.

“Attendances at Christchurch Hospital's Emergency Department have grown continuously since the earthquake of February 2011.

“However, we have seen little growth among older groups thanks to strategies to care for older people in their own homes and the community being well embedded in the Health System.

“The more rapid growth remains among younger adults, including significant increases in non-enrolled younger adults, reflecting the rebuild population.”

Mr Meates says staff are increasing the focus on accurately capturing home addresses and ensuring this group are provided with appropriate information about where to seek primary care rather than defaulting to ED attendance.

Results against other key targets continue to be encouraging at both a hospital and primary care level.

Mr Meates says Canterbury DHB continues to work closely with the PHOs to actively support the delivery of the primary care health targets.

“We are getting closer each quarter after coming from a low base and work continues to improve it.

“I'm also confident our performance against the Faster Cancer Treatment target will improve over the next quarters.

Canterbury's performance slipped to 73 percent but work is ongoing to improve the capture and quality of the Fast Cancer Treatment data, including reviewing patient pathways to improve their timeliness.

Find more information on Canterbury's performance in the Quarter 3, Health Targets here.

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Page last updated: 19 October 2022

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