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

Keep ED for emergencies this weekend

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Friday 16 July 2021Media 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.

Keep the Christchurch Hospital ED for emergencies this weekend

“Keep the Emergency Department for emergencies only” is the message from clinicians as we head into the weekend.

Following an increase in viral respiratory illness being seen in the community, Christchurch Hospital’s ED continues to experience a high number of presentations.

Between Friday 9 July and Thursday 15 July, there were 2423 presentations to our ED. This compares with only 2030 for the same period in 2019.

Acting ED Clinical Director Dr Paul Gee says it would be incredibly helpful if people make use of the various care options available to them if they don’t have serious emergency needs.

“This will enable our ED staff to focus on only those who really need emergency care and continue to provide quality care over the weekend,” says Dr Gee.

If you’re not sure where to go, check this handy guide on our website:

Canterbury has three extended-hours Urgent Care practices, however people should expect longer than usual wait times at the three urgent care clinics this weekend. 

You can learn more about what an Urgent Care clinic can do by checking out this video.

For care around the clock, people in Canterbury can also call their own General Practice team for free heath advice from a nurse after hours.

A reminder that visitor restrictions remain in place at some DHB facilities: https://www.cdhb.health.nz/media-release/canterbury-dhb-makes-changes-to-visiting-as-cases-of-respiratory-illness-rise-in-community/.

Christchurch Hospital’s ED is the sole emergency medical facility in the city and one of the busiest in Australasia.

Trusted health advice

You can also visit our HealthInfo website or your community pharmacy for health advice.

HealthInfo is a health information website that has information specific to Canterbury. It is written and approved by local doctors, practice nurses, hospital clinicians, and other healthcare professionals and features a mix of health information, fact sheets on different topics and descriptions of local health services.

ENDS

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Page last updated: 9 September 2021

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