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

North Canterbury earthquakes update

Tuesday 15 November 2016Media 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.

Significant aftershocks have continued to be felt in North Canterbury and add to the already high levels of anxiety felt in Canterbury communities, particularly in the Kaikoura and Hurunui Districts.

My thoughts go out to those communities and others in Canterbury who have already been through so much. I would like to reassure these communities that they are our number one priority for the foreseeable future. ​

The Canterbury Health System has been offered assistance by other health boards and is working with CDEM, the Ministry and local people to ensure the right support gets to where it is needed most.

Hand hygiene is our biggest concern for people in the areas that have disrupted water supplies or damaged sewerage systems. The best thing people can do to avoid becoming unwell is:

Wash their hands often with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand rub,

ensure drinking water has been boiled or treated with a quarter teaspoonful of bleach to every two litres,

take care with food – if you are unsure about its freshness because fridges and freezers have lost power, do not eat it.

It’s business as usual for all other health services in the Canterbury Health System with the obvious exception of Kaikoura and parts of Hurunui.

Primary care, through General Practice and pharmacy, are doing a superb job of ensuring people continue to have that all important first point of call for both their physical and mental health. Kaikoura community pharmacy is still closed but in the meantime it is successfully dispensing from the hospital.

Additional nursing staff have been sent to Kaikoura Health to support the clinical team. Two Environmental Health Officers from Christchurch City Council are already in Kaikoura, and two Heath Protection Officers and a Canterbury Medical Officer of Health are on their way to provide support and advice to local people. Community and district nursing teams have completed checks on known vulnerable people in the Kaikoura area and are working on a plan for others who aren’t known to us. A number of psychologists from our specialist mental health services are working closely with Red Cross and Community and Public Health to support the psychosocial recovery and assist vulnerable people in the community, as well as in the welfare centres.

Our focus from a health perspective for today and over the next couple of weeks is clean water, sanitation, safe food supplies and support for vulnerable people in the Kaikoura community – including those who are stressed and having trouble coping.

ENDS ​

Note for media: Attribute to David Meates, Canterbury DHB chief executive​

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Page last updated: 19 October 2022

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