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

Greymouth Rest Homes work together to solve staffing shortage

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  3. Greymouth Rest Homes work together to solve staffing shortage

Tuesday 26 April 2022Health news3 minutes to read

Some residents of two Greymouth rest homes are being temporarily relocated from one facility to the other to address the impact of COVID-19 and the extensive period of border closures on staffing.  

Health care providers across New Zealand are struggling to recruit staff because of these impacts, and this situation is particularly acute on the West Coast.

Granger House and Dixon House, supported by the West Coast DHB, are working together to ensure that safe and sustainable care can continue to be delivered to older people living in residential care in Greymouth.  The changes mean temporarily relocating some residents to ensure that everyone continues to receive the level of care suited to their individual needs.

As part of this approach, each facility will focus on one level of care until such time as their staffing shortages can be addressed.  Both facilities currently provide both rest home and hospital-level care.

NZ Aged Care Association Nursing Leadership Group member and Clinical Advisor to Dixon House Trust Board Gillian Robinson says “with over 1000 nursing vacancies in NZ aged care services, places like the West Coast have struggled to recruit the required number of nurses.  It’s great to be working with Granger House and the DHB pooling resources to ensure the ongoing care of our residents within their local community”.

While the rest homes and the DHB acknowledge that this change may be unsettling to some residents, people will still be cared for by familiar faces, and continuity of care can be supported. The DHB has been working in conjunction with staff from both facilities to communicate these changes to all residents, their families/whānau and next of kin.

WCDHB General Manager Mr Philip Wheble says “both Dixon House and Granger House have a great reputation for providing excellent quality care to West Coast residents, and they want to ensure that they are in the strongest position possible to maintain services.  This is a sustainable solution that will allow the facilities to adapt and flex the available resources to meet demand”.

Granger House and Dixon House have a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in place so the most suitable level of care is provided to residents at both facilities. Under this MOU, Granger House has been designated as a hospital-level care facility for a time to allow appropriate staffing and support to be focused there. Dixon House will operate as a rest home facility. The DHB will continue to support the facilities with additional staff, and to ensure that the transition runs smoothly, with as little disruption as possible for residents and their whānau.

ENDS

Note to editor:

Dixon House is an independent 42 bed Aged Residential Care facility with 22 Rest Home Care beds and 20 Hospital Care beds. They also provide palliative and respite care.

The facility is currently home to 31 residents.

Granger House Lifecare is an independent 70 bed Aged Residential Care facility with 40 Hospital Care beds and 30 Rest Home Care beds. They also provide respite care.

The facility is currently home to 69 residents.

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Page last updated: 26 April 2022

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