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

What is the DHB’s top priorities for spending in 2019/2020 year? Proportion of patients accepted for urgent colonoscopy who received procedure within 14 days and proportion of patients high suspicion of cancer who received their first treatment within 62 days of being referred

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  4. What is the DHB’s top priorities for spending in 2019/2020 year? Proportion of patients accepted for urgent colonoscopy who received procedure within 14 days and proportion of patients high suspicion of cancer who received their first treatment within 62 days of being referred

RE Official Information Act request WCDHB 9318

I refer to your email dated 19 June 2019 requesting information under the Official Information Act from West Coast DHB regarding priority spending and cancer treatment.
Background Response:

DHBs do not really have priority areas for spending, that would suggest a higher level of discretion and discretionary funding is very limited. Where we do have choices, the three strategic objectives which underpin our strategic direction and influence our funding decisions, along with our decision making framework are:

  • The development of services that support people to stay well and enable them to take greater responsibly for their own health,
  • The development of primary/community-based services that support people in the community and provide a point of ongoing continuity, which for most people will be general practice,
  • The freeing-up of hospital-based specialist resources to be more response to episodic events, provide timely access to more complex care and specialist advice to primary care.
  1. What is the DHB’s top 10 priorities for spending in the 2019/20 financial year?
  2. What were the DHB’s top 10 priorities for spending in each of the past 5 financial years?
  3. What has been the proportion of patients accepted for urgent diagnostic colonoscopy who received the procedure within 14 days (2 weeks) for each of the last 5 years? And what is the target for 2019/20?
  4. What has been the proportion of patients who received their first treatment (or other management) within 62 days of being referred with a high suspicion of cancer and a need to be seen within 2 weeks, for each of the last 5 years; and what is the target for 2019/20?
  5. Please also provide any spending priorities or targets the DHB has to hand for the years beyond 2019/20, if those exist.
  6. Any current most-recent statement of DHB priorities regarding cancer management or treatment, or concerns with that, that the Ministry has been briefed on or received any report about, oral or written, from your DHB in the 2018/2019 or 2019/20 years to date.

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Page last updated: 29 July 2019

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