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

Surgeons train to save lives with 3D printing

Wednesday 23 May 2018Media 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.
Surgeon Spencer Beasley holding a 3D printed model of an infant's throat with oesophageal atresia.

Surgeon Spencer Beasley holding a 3D printed model of an infant's throat with oesophageal atresia.

A team at Christchurch Hospital is 3D printing models of babies' chests to train surgeons for a life-saving procedure.

Oesophageal atresia is a congenital abnormality that affects 1 in 4000 babies.

The most common form of oesophageal atresia is when the upper oesophagus, which should run from the mouth to the stomach, instead comes to a dead end. The lower section of the oesophagus connects the windpipe to the stomach.

The baby cannot swallow food, and there is a risk it will overflow into the lungs. There is also a risk breathing will pass air into the stomach rather than into the lungs.

Professor Spencer Beasley, a paediatric surgeon at Christchurch Hospital, is one of the foremost global experts on oesophageal atresia.

“We normally do the surgery within a day or so of birth, which entails separating the lower section of oesophagus from the windpipe and connecting it to the upper section so the baby can swallow saliva and food.”

He says the surgery is common enough that paediatric surgeons will certainly come across it, but rare enough that it is difficult to train them in the procedure.

“Up until now, people have their first attempt at doing the surgery with actual patients.”

Simulations for the surgery created overseas often involve practicing on animal tissue or live animals.

“This presents huge ethical problems, cost problems, and procurement problems,” Spencer says.

Paediatric Surgeon Jon Wells had the idea to 3D print a model to simulate the surgery, and Spencer helped him develop it.

They collaborated with the Canterbury DHB Medical Physics and Bioengineering department to create a lifelike replica of a ribcage, based on CT scans of a real baby.

They also developed a synthetic skin and, most importantly, a replica of an oesophagus and windpipe with the most common form of oesophageal atresia. This contains different layers of synthetic tissue that behave naturally and cause realistic problems for surgeons.

The ribcage is reusable, and the internal organs are easily and cheaply replaced between simulations.

“One of our aims is to make this model deliberately cheap so it can be used anywhere in the world,” Spencer says.

The team has also collaborated with Toronto University, which has supplied software that measures surgeons' efficiency in the simulation. Final-year medical student David Nair has been responsible for establishing its validity as an effective and useful training model.

The 3D-printed simulation has been developed in partnership with Canterbury DHB as part of the health board's focus on using technology to improve healthcare for patients and staff.

ENDS

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Page last updated: 19 October 2022

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