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

Learn more about your meds for Patient Safety Week 2017

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Tuesday 7 November 2017Media 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.

With the launch of Patient Safety Week, Cantabrians with prescribed medication are being encouraged to ensure they can answer three simple questions:

  • What is my medicine called?
  • What is it for?
  • When and how do I take it?

Canterbury Health System welcomes the choice of medicines safety as this year's theme for Patient Safety Week, because of the role everyone can play in preventing medicines-related harm.

Questions about your medication can be answered by your pharmacist or online via HealthInfo – a trusted, health information website informed and updated regularly by Canterbury clinicians. Another trusted online option is MyMedicines.

Canterbury DHB CEO David Meates is encouraging staff and the general public to get behind Patient Safety Week as the start of a new drive to increase awareness.

“The Health Quality and Safety Commission have set a totally achievable goal for us all during Patient Safety Week – to get into the good habit of ensuring we understand our medicines better by answering those three simple questions”

“One other key activity for our health system this week is to let people know about our medicines return service,” Mr Meates says.

Canterbury community pharmacies will now accept surplus (no longer needed) and expired medication for safe disposal. This removes a potential hazard from people's homes where old medicines can all too easily be taken in error or disposed of unsafely.

The service also allows people to return used medical sharps for disposal (including needle/syringes used for cytotoxic medication), as long as they are safely packaged as agreed by the pharmacy.

We have been working with our Canterbury Clinical Network partners the Canterbury Community Pharmacy Group to support and promote this service which is free to the community. Community pharmacies will use stickers on prescription bags, issue advice tailored to users of medical sharps, and have a general information flier about the service.

“All people need to do is to talk to their pharmacy first for advice on how to store and return items safely, and while you are at it – why not ask those three questions: What's my medicine called, what's it for, and when and how do I take it?”

ENDS

Media queries can be directed to Canterbury DHB Senior Media Advisor: Jendy.Harper@cdhb.health.nz (03) 364 4122 or (027) 502 7523.

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Page last updated: 19 October 2022

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