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

New Christchurch Outpatients building to remain closed until Monday 15 April

Thursday 4 April 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.

Water is pumped out of the Outpatients building early on Monday morning

Please attribute comment to David Meates, Chief Executive, Canterbury District Health Board

Despite extraordinary efforts from a large team working to dry-out and fix the damage caused when fire-sprinklers drenched the interior of the new outpatients building last Friday 29 March, it will not be ready to open until Monday 15 April. 

This is extremely disappointing for our staff and for the thousands of people whose outpatient appointments will have to be postponed.

Last week we found temporary homes for the 300 staff who usually work in this building, and some services found temporary locations to provide the urgent clinics for people who needed to be seen urgently.

It really is heart-breaking to see the damage caused, and the additional pressure this flood has put on our staff and the delays it has caused to patient appointments. This is another disruption we could well do without.

While the clean-up and dry-out work has progressed well this week, it is now clear that the building will remain closed for another week until at least Monday 15 April to allow the necessary repairs and testing to be carried out to ensure it’s safe for staff and patients to reoccupy.

Unfortunately, this means we will have to continue to postpone and reschedule up to 700 outpatient appointments each day until the building is reopened. Anyone whose appointment has to be postponed and rescheduled will be contacted by phone or text.We are deeply concerned about the impact of this closure on the thousands of people affected. Everyone who has an outpatient appointment needs to be seen. Our patients have been referred for clinical reasons and delays to their assessments and treatments can be distressing.

Arrangements are continuing to be made for some urgent appointments for acutely unwell people to go ahead in alternative locations. Affected patients are being advised of the alternative location of their appointment.

Contacting and rescheduling so many appointments is a massive undertaking for our booking and administrative staff, and all of our teams are working extremely hard to get this building reopened on Monday 15 April. We apologise for the inconvenience this flood has caused. 

Background Information:

Early in the morning on Friday 29 March, steam from a burst heating pipe activated the fire sprinkler system which flooded the new Christchurch Outpatients building. There is significant damage to some walls, floors and ceilings which are now being replaced.

A new valve for the heating pipe is needed and all of the pipework throughout the building will need a hydraulic test before it is back in operation again.

*Please note that existing appointments at Christchurch Women’s, Christchurch Hospital or Burwood Hospital are not affected and are all going ahead.

ENDS

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Page last updated: 19 October 2022

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