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

Changes to national Alert Levels a timely reminder to follow COVID-19 protocols

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Tuesday 16 February 2021Health news3 minutes to read

With the recent changes to the national Alert Levels, the most important thing for the public to do right now is to follow the COVID-19 protocols which includes keeping a record of where they go and when.

This can be done by ‘checking in’ via the QR code outside many businesses, including many DHB facilities, or keeping a diary of where they go and when.  This information is useful if we were to have a case and needed to advise the public.

If you have attended any of the locations of interest visited by the new confirmed community cases of COVID-19, please follow the Ministry of Health instructions and call Healthline if you’re not sure what you should do on 0800 358 5453.

For the time being, West Coast DHB visitor hours remain the same at both Te Nīkau Hospital & Health Centre and Buller Health. However, we do ask people not to come visiting unless it’s essential, and only one support person for outpatient appointments. If you do need to visit, please limit the number of visitors to two people per patient to ensure that safe physical distancing can be maintained.

Some general rules apply at all of our facilities:

  • People should not visit if they are sick.
  • All visitors must sign in using the COVID Tracer App (by scanning the QR code) or provide their contact details manually on arrival.
  • Please make sure Bluetooth tracing is turned on in your NZ COVID Tracer app.
  • Visitors are asked to bring their own mask or fabric face covering.
  • All visitors are expected to practice physical distancing: they should remain two metres away from people they don’t know.
  • Everyone, including visitors should practise good hand hygiene.

If you are planning to visit an Age Residential Care (ARC) facility, please phone first to check visiting hours, and this includes the ARC facilities operated by West Coast DHB in Greymouth and Reefton.

Please allow extra time if you’re coming into hospital.

Call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 if you have any symptoms of COVID-19 – high temperature (at least 38°C), cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, sneezing and runny nose, temporary loss of smell.  These symptoms do not necessarily mean you have COVID-19. The symptoms are like other illnesses that are much more common, such as cold and flu. Shortness of breath is a sign of possible pneumonia and requires immediate medical attention.

Further information on the rules for Alert Level-2 are available on the COVID-19 website

https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-system/alert-level-2/

ENDS

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Page last updated: 16 February 2021

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