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

Minister of Health Officially opens Christchurch Outpatients building

Thursday 31 January 2019Media 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.
Minister of Health David Clark shows off the plaque commemorating the opening alongside Duncan Webb MP, Ruth Dyson MP, Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration Megan Woods, CDHB Chair Dr John Wood and CDHB CEO David Meates

Minister of Health David Clark shows off the plaque commemorating the opening alongside Duncan Webb MP, Ruth Dyson MP, Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration Megan Woods, CDHB Chair Dr John Wood and CDHB CEO David Meates

The new Christchurch Outpatients facility at 2 Oxford Terrace was officially opened by the Minister of Health Hon Dr David Clark ably assisted by Hon Dr Megan Woods, Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration today.

The distinctive new Christchurch Outpatients building brings outpatient services back under one roof, after being dispersed widely across the hospital campus and the city since the 2011 earthquakes.

Five storeys high, the new building provides 10,500m2 of state-of-the-art facilities for more than 20 different outpatient services at Canterbury DHB, including Diabetes, Endrocrine, the Blood Test Centre; Hospital Dental, Canterbury Eye Services (Ophthalmology), Haematology, General Medicine, Gastroenterology, General Surgery, Infectious Diseases, Dermatology, Respiratory, Cardiothoracic, Cardiology, Neurology, and Urology.

The new Outpatients facility is already a busy building. Just over 300 staff work in the building with around 1000 people on average coming in for appointments each day.

Located just opposite Christchurch Hospital, the building is accessible via a drop-off zone on Oxford Terrace and is served by the DHB’s Park & Ride shuttle from the Christchurch City Council’s Lichfield Street Car Park building, as well as being on major bus routes into the city.

 PLEASE NOTE THAT FROM 24 AUGUST 2020 THE SHUTTLE HAS MOVED TO THE DEANS AVENUE CAR PARK AND NO LONGER RUNS FROM LICHFIELD STREET CAR PARK

The build took just over three years from start to finish. Initial designs were done by architects CCM in July 2015, Leighs Construction began the build in July 2016 supported by project managers Johnstaff, and final completion and handover occurred in September 2018.

To accommodate so many different services and patients, the new Outpatients was designed with many flexible shared clinical and administrative spaces and operates on lean, efficient, carefully planned principles to maximise the building’s usefulness. It’s also seismically strengthened to “Importance Level 3” standards – that is, to 130% of the building code.

David Meates, Chief Executive of Canterbury DHB, says: “I’m thrilled that after many years of disruptions and relocations we are finally able to offer fit-for-purpose outpatients facilities in Christchurch for the people of Canterbury. Thank you for your patience through this process.

“With new facilities such as the Christchurch Outpatients building now coming on stream, it is an exciting time to be working in health in Canterbury. Being located next door to Christchurch Hospital and within the growing Health Precinct enables our staff to make the most of opportunities to collaborate professionally and to inspire the next generation of health workers, helping to ensure that our health system remains at the forefront of international best practice.

“It’s also important to acknowledge the tremendous efforts of everyone involved in the project. Bringing a building like this to life not only depends upon a lot of hard work from the architects, the contractors and the project management team, but also on vital collaborative work from clinical, administrative, planning and support staff, and input from specialist user groups including health consumers and disability groups.”

ENDS

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Page last updated: 19 October 2022

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