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

Infection Prevention advice for Cantabrians under COVID-19 Alert Level 2

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Wednesday 12 August 2020Media 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.
Infection Prevention advice for Cantabrians under COVID Alert Level 2

Infection Prevention advice for Cantabrians under COVID Alert Level 2

Please attribute to Dr Cheryl Brunton, Medical Officer of Health, Canterbury DHB:

While the pop-up COVID-19 testing in our community over the weekend returned no positive results, with recent developments it is not a time for us to ease up on our precautions against COVID-19.

From noon Wednesday 12 August New Zealand (apart from the greater Auckland region) will move Alert Level 2. This means you can still go to work and school, but you should:

  • keep your distance from other people in public (two metres in public and in retail stores, like supermarkets and clothes shops. One metre in most other environments like workplaces, cafes, restaurants, and gyms)
  • wash your hands
  • sneeze and cough into your elbow
  • keep a track of where you’ve been and who you’ve seen
  • wear masks in situations where physical distancing is not possible, like on public transport or in shops.

If you're unwell, stay home. Don’t go to work or school. Don’t socialise.

If you have COVID-19 symptoms (any acute respiratory infection with at least one of the following symptoms: new or worsening cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, stuffy or runny nose, lost sense of smell – with or without a fever) you should contact your General Practice team or call Healthline on 0800 358 5453. Most GP teams are offering testing if you have these symptoms.

If you have symptoms and are not registered with a GP team you can attend the testing centre run by Whānau Ora at 250 Pages Road between 9am to 1pm, seven days a week. You do not need an appointment to attend. 

If you are unwell and need to see a doctor you should call your usual GP team for advice 24/7. For general health information visit healthinfo.org.nz.

More information on Alert level 2 can be found here: https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19/restrictions/alert-level-2/

ENDS

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Page last updated: 25 September 2020

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