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

Strike by medical laboratory staff – Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 November 2019

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Tuesday 12 November 2019Media release1 minute 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.

Medical laboratory staff who are members of the APEX union are striking

Medical laboratory staff who are members of the APEX union will be striking for 48 hours on Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 November 2019.

The strike involves a full withdrawal of labour.

Medical laboratory staff provide various services, including taking blood and other samples for testing.

Canterbury DHB is doing our utmost to ensure patient safety leading up to and throughout this period, however, we will need to reduce some services.

During the strike, some non-urgent and specialist laboratory testing may be delayed.

If you are planning to get a blood or specimen test at Christchurch Outpatients, Christchurch Hospital or Burwood Hospital, please note these collection centres will be operating at a reduced capacity on Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 November.

Please note this strike does not affect Canterbury Southern Community Labs (CSCL) centres. These community collection centres will be open and operating as usual, however, all collection centres will be closed on the Canterbury Show Day public holiday on Friday 15 November. You can find your nearest CSCL on the CSCL website here.

ENDS

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Page last updated: 19 August 2021

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