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

Temporary changes to limit visitor numbers at West Coast DHB facilities have been implemented

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  3. Temporary changes to limit visitor numbers at West Coast DHB facilities have been implemented

Wednesday 25 March 2020Health news3 minutes to read

West Coast DHB Medical Director Dr Graham Roper today announced significant temporary changes to the DHB’s visitor policy in response to COVID-19 (coronavirus).

“As part of our efforts to reduce the chances of COVID-19 or any other infection spreading to our vulnerable patients, a number of temporary changes have been introduced to our visitor policy.

Anyone who is sick should not be coming to visit anyone in hospital; while this is advisable at any time it is incredibly important now, says Dr Roper.

“We are now limiting the numbers of people coming into our facilities. These changes are being put in place to minimise the risk of visitors who are unwell spreading illness to patients. Access is being controlled and everyone can expect to be asked screening questions at the door and will be asked to sign a register.

Visiting hours will remain the same for services (as publicised on our website for each service) but what is changing is the number of visitors coming in and the number of support people accompanying people coming in for appointments.

The following changes now apply:

Grey Base Hospital

  • Emergency Department – one support person only to accompany people presenting to ED
  • All remaining inpatient wards and services – no more than one visitor per patient at any one time.
  • No children under 16 to come hospital visiting.
  • Exceptions: Clinical Nurse Managers can assess requests on a case-by-case basis. For example, exceptions will be considered on compassionate grounds for end of life care.
  • Visitors will not be allowed to visit any COVID-19 patients.

Visiting hours at Buller Health have been restricted from 2pm – 4pm with a limit of one family visitor per patient for 15 minutes.

“We have also implemented access restrictions into all other health facilities including general practices across the Coast. Face-to-face GP appointments will not be accepted unless the patient has first had a remote consultation via telephone, video, email or text,” Dr Roper says.

For people with outpatient appointments, we are implementing the same restrictions. Please call the phone number on your appointment letter to confirm your appointment and staff will arrange a phone or video consultation as an alternative to a face-to-face appointment.

It’s vital that we reduce the numbers of people coming into our facilities to reduce the opportunity for any infections to spread. I would like to thank people in advance for their cooperation and playing their part to keep our patients safe.

We also advise anyone who has returned from a country or territory of concern, or who has been in close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case in the past 14 days, or who is experiencing symptoms – including cough, sore throat, or fever or shortness of breath – or who is generally unwell to avoid visiting people in our hospitals.

Only people with symptoms should call Healthline’s COVID-19 line on 0800 358 5453.

ENDS

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Page last updated: 16 July 2020

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