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

Canterbury DHB makes changes to visiting at its facilities under Alert Level 2

Friday 14 August 2020Media 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.
The DHB's visitor policy has again been updated as we navigate our way through COVID-19 alert level three

Changes have been made to the DHB's visitor policy

Please attribute comment to Dr Sue Nightingale, Chief Medical Officer, Canterbury DHB:

Following New Zealand (apart from the greater Auckland region) moving to COVID-19 Alert Level 2, Canterbury DHB has made changes to its visitor restrictions.

The key changes are the number of visitors permitted at our hospitals and health centres, visiting hours and visitors being asked to wear a mask. 

We encourage people to keep a record of where they go and when via the NZ COVID Tracer App. Please check in using app at the front door when you enter any of our buildings.

Christchurch Hospital

Under COVID-19 Alert Level 2, visiting hours have changed and are from 3pm – 8pm until further notice. In addition:

  • One visitor at a time is allowed in adult areas.
  • One support person is allowed in outpatient areas.
  • Two parents/caregivers are allowed in child health areas.
  • Charge nurse managers can make exceptions on compassionate grounds.

Burwood Hospital

Visiting hours remain 11am – 7pm and:

  • Only two visitors may visit an inpatient at a time. These can be different people each time. 
  • People attending an outpatient appointment can have one support person with them.
  • Charge nurse managers can make exceptions on compassionate grounds.

Christchurch Women’s Hospital/Rangiora Health Hub Maternity/Lincoln Maternity/Ashburton Maternity

There is no change to visiting at Christchurch Women’s Hospital under Alert Level 2 with women in labour allowed two support people for the duration of her labour and birth.

For the duration of their postnatal stay a woman can have one named support person from the above bubble who will be able to visit once per day for any length of time from 10am-8pm (they will have to sign in at reception)

 

At Alert Level 2 we are asking all visitors to wear a mask when visiting our facilities if they can. It can be a fabric mask or scarf but must cover your nose and mouth.

There is no visiting at any Aged Residential Care Facilities operated by Canterbury DHB. This includes Tuarangi Home in Ashburton along with our facilities in Kaikoura, Ellesmere, Oxford, Darfield and Waikari.

Full details of further changes to visiting at other Canterbury DHB facilities are available on our website.

As always, please don’t visit if you’re unwell and remember the usual public health precautions such as hand hygiene and physical distancing (wherever possible stay two metres away from people you don’t know, and one metre away from people you do know). 

If you have COVID-19 symptoms (any acute respiratory infection with at least one of the following symptoms: new or worsening cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, stuffy or runny nose, lost sense of smell – with or without a fever) you should contact your General Practice team or call Healthline on 0800 358 5453.

Most GP teams are offering testing if you have these symptoms. If you have symptoms and are not registered with a GP team you can attend the testing centre run by Whānau Ora at 250 Pages Road between 9am to 1pm, seven days a week. You do not need an appointment to attend. 

If you are unwell and need to see a doctor you should call your usual GP team for advice 24/7. For general health information visit healthinfo.org.nz.

ENDS

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Page last updated: 25 September 2020

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