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 can also read the additional COVID-19 related visiting guidelines .

Grief and loss

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Grief and loss

Grief and Loss

You may have lost a member of your family/whānau or a friend. Or you may feel devastated by the loss of community members, even if you didn't know them personally.

We all handle grief in different ways. Feeling sad is completely normal, and there are people and services available to help you cope.

Mental Health Foundation – We feel grief if we lose people we love, or things and places we were attached to. It can be a difficult and painful process. The Mental Health Foundation site offers information on symptoms of grief, help and treatment options, and strategies to support recovery.

Anyone feeling stressed, worried, down, or needing tautoko (support) or someone to talk to can free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor.

Page last updated: 18 December 2023

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