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

Maternity services contract with St George’s Hospital to end

  1. Home
  2. Health news
  3. Maternity services contract with St George’s Hospital to end

Monday 24 April 2023Media 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.
Health News

Maternity services contract with St George’s Hospital to end

Fionnagh Dougan, National Director, Hospital and Specialist Services has confirmed an agreement has been reached between St George’s Hospital and Te Whatu Ora that its maternity services contract will end on June 30, 2023.

“We would like to thank St George’s Hospital maternity service for their dedication to our community over the years. I know many people in Christchurch have given birth, had a post-natal stay or were born at St Georges themselves and that it has a fond place in the hearts of many,” says Fionnagh Dougan.

“We want to reassure whānau expecting the arrival of a baby in Christchurch that they will always receive the care and support that they need at this special time in their lives, whether that is through our primary birthing units in Rolleston and Rangiora or Christchurch Women’s Hospital. Additionally, our new central city birthing unit in Christchurch, Kurawaka: Waipapa, is due to open in late 2023.”

The new Oromairaki Maternity Unit at the Toka Hāpai (Selwyn Health Hub) opened last year, and construction is well underway on Kurawaka: Waipapa, our new central city birthing unit which will have four birthing rooms, 20 post-natal rooms, two whānau rooms, an education room and six assessment rooms.

“If you are currently hapū and have any concerns, please reach out to your lead maternity carer.”

“While it had been intended that Kurawaka: Waipapa would reduce demand on Christchurch Women’s hospital and that the arrangement with St George’s would continue as a part of the broad offering to whānau in Christchurch, it has become clear through our ongoing discussions that safe staffing and workforce constraints due to the national midwifery shortage mean the service at St George’s is not sustainable.”

“Our maternity service has already picked up care for many of the births and postnatal stays that have traditionally taken place at St George’s and only 10 births and 34 postnatal transfers on average each month have been taking place there recently. To put that in context, over 6000 babies are born in Canterbury each year.” 

More information about our birthing options in Canterbury can be found here

“We hold a strong and valued relationship with the team at St George’s Hospital and we look forward to continuing our partnership through their provision of some hospital and specialist services in the Canterbury region.”

ENDS

For further information, contact:

communications@cdhb.health.nz

Back to Health News

Page last updated: 14 June 2023

Is this page useful?