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

The new Akaroa Integrated Health Facility is one step closer

Tuesday 3 May 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.

​Canterbury DHB is pleased to announce it is tendering for the design of the new Integrated Health Facility in Akaroa, on the site of the former Akaroa Hospital.

David Meates, Canterbury DHB Chief Executive says reaching this milestone of inviting tenders for design is a huge achievement.

“Especially in light of the unique complexities of this process and the other priorities competing for health resources in our post-quake Canterbury environment,” he says.

“Our positive engagement with the community to date gives me great confidence that this partnership approach is the best way forward.”

The DHB has committed to construction getting underway by November 2016, with a projected completion date later next year (2017).

The Akaroa community has previously agreed with the proposal that a community-owned company, Akaroa Health Hub Ltd, will be the provider of the services in the new facility.

The facility will have eight aged residential care beds and four General Practice “GP” beds for inpatients and will house the general practice and other community services.

“However, to enable the facility to include beds for aged residential care, a substantial one-off $2.5 million contribution from the community will be needed.

“Details of financing and ownership are still being worked through but it has been agreed that sufficient time will be provided for the community fundraising targets to be reached. In the interim this is not expected to impact the construction schedule because the DHB is committed to progressing the facility without further delay,” Mr Meates says.

Work is being undertaken with the existing Akaroa health service providers (rest home, hospital nurses and health centre), as well as other services such as physiotherapy and pharmacy, to integrate the services and design the model of service delivery for the future.

“This work will be completed before the facility design is finalised to ensure it will be fit for its purpose of delivering services in an integrated and sustainable way,” Mr Meates says.

Alan Bradford, chair of the Akaroa Structure Group, welcomes the development.

“We are very pleased that the Akaroa community can now count on the continued local provision of health services. We recognise that the lack of apparent progress has been frustrating for many, and we are pleased to have reached this important milestone.”

ENDS

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Page last updated: 19 October 2022

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