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

Following MoH recommendations regarding Youth Health Care in Secondary Schools: How many schools have taken up the recommendations? Where are the schools, Name of the schools that have taken up the recommendations?

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  4. Following MoH recommendations regarding Youth Health Care in Secondary Schools: How many schools have taken up the recommendations? Where are the schools, Name of the schools that have taken up the recommendations?

RE Official Information Act request WCDHB 9334

I refer to your email dated 25 July 2019 to the Ministry of Health which they subsequently partially transferred to us on 8 August 2019 requesting the following information under the Official Information Act from West Coast DHB. This request relates to the Youth Health Care in Secondary Schools and the Ministry of Health recommendations.

The Ministry of Health recommends the following minimum ratios:

  • One full-time equivalent (FTE) registered nurse (RN) to 750 students in decile 1-3 secondary schools
  • One FTE RN to 200 students in high-needs contexts, such as alternative education units
  • RN attendance for a minimum of one day per week during term time).

The Ministry of Health transferred Questions 2, 3 and 4 of your six questions. Specifically:

2. How many schools have taken up the recommendations?
3. Where are the schools that have taken up the recommendations?
4. Are you able to name the schools that have taken up the recommendations?

All seven secondary schools in the West Coast DHB region (including Area Schools) have accessed Youth Health Care in the form of Universal Health Assessments for students which are provided by the West Coast DHB through the Public Health Nurses and Rural Nurses Specialists based in the schools’ community.

The nature of working in remote rural area using community nurses who have multiple roles means that the ratio of nurses to students for secondary schools is not always met, however the ratio for alternative education units is met. The Ministry of Health is aware of this.

The schools are Karamea Area School, Buller High School (Westport), Reefton Area School, Greymouth High School, John Paul II High School (Greymouth), Westland High School (Hokitika) and South Westland Area School (Hari Hari).

Both the Alternative Education units in the region also access this service. Buller Alternative Education is based at Buller High School and the Greymouth site is co-located at Tai Poutini Polytechnic.

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Page last updated: 5 September 2019

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