VISITING HOSPITAL

All hospital visitors are encouraged to wear a medical face mask. Expand this message for information about visiting hospital. 

Last updated:
31 October 2024

Some visitor restrictions for all Health New Zealand | 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 we encourage 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 are advised to not visit our facilities if they are unwell. We advise that you 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 encouraged to be worn at all sites. Masks will be provided if you don’t have one.
  • Please practice hand hygiene with provided alcohol-based hand rub/gel

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 a surgical mask as a minimum – please use surgical masks provided.

All of our Hospitals

Visiting hours for our hospitals have returned to pre COVID-19 hours.

All visitors are encouraged to wear a medical face mask.

Parents/caregivers can be with their child in hospital and visitors are now allowed, except for the Children’s Haematology and Oncology Day stay where visitor restrictions might apply.

Patients and visitors can also read the additional COVID-19 related visiting guidelines .

Poroporoaki for Burwood Birthing Unit

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Friday 1 July 2016Media 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THIS IS AN ARCHIVED PAGE. The advice and information contained in this page may not be current and it should only be used for historical reference purposes.

A poroporoaki* has been held in acknowledgement of the closure of Burwood Birthing Unit, which officially shut its doors yesterday after 70 years' serving Canterbury families.

Canterbury DHB closed it earlier this year after staff and women felt unsafe being there during the magnitude 5.7 earthquake on February 14, but the DHB agreed to temporarily reopen it in April while at the same time making it clear that the unit would permanently close on June 30, 2016. The Brain Injury Rehabilitation Service and Pain Management Clinic that were housed in the same facility have recently been relocated, thanks to the completion of the Burwood Hospital redevelopment.

David Meates, Canterbury DHB chief executive, says before the February 14 quake, Canterbury DHB had originally intended to keep the Burwood unit open until it had built a new primary maternity unit in the Christchurch area.

However, Canterbury has sufficient primary maternity unit capacity in and around Christchurch to provide appropriate services to Canterbury women for some time to come.

“We appreciate it may mean travelling a little further to one of our other primary units or to Christchurch Women's Hospital, and are developing a map with suggested routes and travel times from eastern suburbs, to inform women's choice.

“Another major factor which influenced our decision to close the Burwood Birthing Unit permanently is the significant amount of asbestos in the building, which creates real issues when repairs or any basic maintenance work are needed.

“A band aid solution is just not viable when you conside​​r the Primary Birthing Strategy and what is needed in the long term for our community.”

Mr Meates says the community will be kept informed on whatever is decided around the future provision of maternity services.

“However, it's important to be realistic about timelines as it's all happening across the health system. The Canterbury DHB has the largest amount of health facility construction to have ever been underway at one time in New Zealand, including a huge quake repair schedule, as well as new facilities,” Mr Meates says

“We thank everyone in the community for understanding we are committed to finding a long term solution.”

*A poroporoaki is a Maori farewell ceremony.

ENDS

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Page last updated: 19 October 2022

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