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

Alternate care plans in place at Buller Health this weekend to accommodate reduced staffing capacity

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Thursday 15 February 2024Health news3 minutes to read

This weekend, Buller Health will be introducing alternate care plans to its acute care service to accommodate reduced staffing capacity.

From 8:30am on Friday (16 February) through to 8:30am on Monday (19 February), the Acute Stabilisation Unit (ASU) will be closed.

During this time, if you have an emergency or urgent health need, please dial 111 and ask for an ambulance.

  • A PRIME-trained clinician will be available on-call to respond to community emergencies on these days.
  • St John will continue to provide usual emergency response services.
  • Anyone needing admission will be transferred to Greymouth’s Te Nīkau Hospital.

On Friday (16 February), face-to-face nurse appointments and remote GP appointments will be available at Buller Medical Centre. There will be no urgent weekend clinics (Saturday or Sunday) available.

All other services like outpatient clinics, allied health and district nursing continue to be available.

For appointments, enquiries, prescriptions, or results please phone Buller Medical Centre on 03 788 9277 during weekday opening hours (Monday – Friday 8:45am – 5:00pm).

“While every effort has been made by our medical staffing team over the past week to find suitable medical cover for these days, unfortunately we have not been able to secure anyone,” says Philip Wheble, West Coast Associate Director of Operations, Te Whatu Ora.

“We again thank the Buller community for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience that this situation may cause,” says Mr Wheble.

Trusted health advice

  • If you are feeling unwell with any condition, you can phone Healthline on 0800 611 116 for free health advice 24/7 or your general practice team to discuss your situation and symptoms rather than visiting in person. This will ensure that you get to access appropriate treatment and medication to help you stay well, even if you are at home isolating.
  • Ka Ora, a new rural after-hours virtual telehealth service providing virtual GP consultations is now available for eligible rural communities. People can access the service by calling 0800 2 KA ORA (0800 252 672) *fees apply for some people.
  • For pregnancy support and advice over the phone, please call your midwife/LMC (Lead Maternity Carer).
  • If you have questions about your young child or baby’s health phone Plunketline on 0800 933 922 to speak to a Plunket nurse.
  • You might also like to try a virtual consultation with a New Zealand registered health practitioner without seeing them in person. This is also called a virtual consult or telehealth. You can find a list of virtual care providers on healthify.nz.
  • You can also visit our HealthInfo website or your community pharmacy for health advice. HealthInfo is a health information website that has information specific to the West Coast. It is written and approved by local doctors, practice nurses, hospital clinicians, and other healthcare professionals and features a mix of health information, fact sheets on different topics, and descriptions of local health services.
  • For COVID-19 health advice 24/7 please call 0800 358 5453.
  • If you’re worried about yourself, or someone in your whānau who has a respiratory illness, see the checklist here of symptoms to watch out for, and when you should seek medical advice.

Remember, if you or a member of your whānau are injured or experiencing severe symptoms, it’s critical that you call 111.

ENDS

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Page last updated: 15 February 2024

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