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

CEO Update – Monday 14 December 2020

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Monday 14 December 2020Waitaha Canterbury Pānui2 minutes to read

In this edition of the CEO Update

Acting Chief Executive Andrew Brant thanks all those working in the managed isolation facilities for their ongoing professionalism and care as they continue to work hard to keep our community COVID-free and to ensure whānau can reunite safely when they return to New Zealand. With our Emergency Department experiencing extremely high demand, he asks that people save ED for emergencies and instead seek care from their general practice team or one of our three urgent care practices. He also provides an update on the recruitment of executive roles.

This issue also includes a farewell to outgoing Chief Medical Officer Sue Nightingale, encourages Kiwis to make this summer unstoppable and COVID-free, promotes research funding grants awarded to Canterbury and West Coast DHBs, looks at how the government and unions are working together for the health workforce, pays tribute to two long-serving staff members who are retiring, and much more.

You can read the Canterbury DHB CEO Update in two different formats:

View on issuu.com Download PDF (5MB)

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Page last updated: 14 December 2020

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