HOSPITAL VISITING

All hospital visitors are recommended to wear a medical face mask. For more information about visiting: Visitors and family. See our COVID-19 page for general COVID-19 advice, detailed hospital visiting guidelines and COVID-19 tests.

See West Coast COVID-19 vaccination clinics for info on vaccinations link COVID-19 Vaccination • West Coast • Healthpoint

Last updated:
16 September 2022

Fewer visitor restrictions now apply

For visitors to all facilities (effective from and last updated on 16 September 2022)

Some visitor restrictions for all Te Whatu Ora Te Tai o Poutini West Coast health facilities remain in place, but we have relaxed others.

There is still a heightened risk to vulnerable people in hospital and so people must continue to wear a mask when visiting any of our facilities and follow other advice designed to keep patients, staff and other visitors safe.

Kia whakahaumaru te whānau, me ngā iwi katoa – this is 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 in single rooms may have more than one visitor while patients in multi-bed rooms can have one visitor only per patient to ensure there is no overcrowding.
  • People can have one or two support people to accompany them to outpatients appointments.
  • Women in labour in a birthing suite, in Te Nīkau Hospital’s Maternity Ward and in Buller’s Kawatiri Maternity Unit can have the usual support people, subject to space, for the duration of their stay in our facilities.
  • Eating or drinking at the bedside is at the discretion of the Clinical Nurse Manager. Visitors must not eat or drink in multibed rooms because of the increased risk when multiple people remove their 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.

Mask wearing

  • Surgical/medical masks must be worn at all sites, except in counselling, mental health and addiction services where it’s on a case-by-case agreement with patients. Masks will be provided if you don’t have one. In higher-risk environments, people, including young children, may not be able to visit if they cannot wear a mask.
  • Any member of the public with a mask exemption is welcome in all our facilities when attending to receive health care and *treatment. Please show your mask exemption card and appointment letter to staff at the entrance. *Treatment includes coming into the Emergency Department, outpatient appointments, surgery or a procedure.

Visiting patients with COVID-19

  • People are able to 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.

You must NOT visit our facilities if you

  • are COVID-19 positive
  • are unwell. Please stay home if you have a tummy bug or cold or flu/COVID-19-like symptoms (even if you’ve tested negative for COVID-19).

Te Whatu Ora West Coast Aged Residential Care facilities

Visitors are welcome at our Aged Care Residential facilities, subject to the space available. All visitors must wear a surgical mask.

More COVID-19 information

Annual Maternity Quality and Safety Programme Report 2020 – 2021

The West Coast District Health Board is pleased to present the Maternity Quality and Safety Programme Annual Report for 2020/21.

The West Coast District Health Board is pleased to present the Maternity Quality and Safety Programme Annual Report for 2020.

The West Coast has had a busy year again this year as we completed the Maternity Strategy and agreed with the Board to use it as a platform to guide not only the first 1,000 days, but we have also initiated the programme called Growing Up Well on the West Coast. We have a project group with wide representation across our community and have commenced hui around different communities on the West Coast, so we can improve our maternity and other systems for whanau.

Last year’s report has been shared widely and has prompted more discussion about how we can continue to improve the maternity system for our mamas and their pepī. The work that has been started in the previous year continues to evolve specifically in relation to the voices of the women and their whanau in our communities. We are placing a strong focus on equity particularly paying attention to the remoteness and distances needed to travel for many of our hapū wāhine and their whānau.

The maternity workforce has improved this year with both midwifery and medical appointments. The impact of our rural generalist model is that we are not only attracting but retaining a medical workforce and for midwives the door is also open to work alongside our rural nurse practitioners to both assist each other as both groups visit whanau in the community. There is also a stronger transalpine working relationship developing not only with midwifery, but now with the O&G department at Christchurch Women’s. As in previous years our guidelines and referral pathways are transalpine but are reflective of the West Coast perspective with input from the Coast. This helps the maintenance of standards of care across both DHBs in maternity whilst utilising the capacity that is available in Canterbury.

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Page last updated: 24 May 2021

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