Dr Sue Nightingale, Chief Medical Officer, Canterbury DHB:

Following New Zealand (apart from the greater Auckland region) moving to COVID-19 Alert Level 2, Canterbury DHB has made changes to its visitor restrictions.

The key changes are the number of visitors permitted at our hospitals and health centres, visiting hours and visitors being asked to wear a mask.

We encourage people to keep a record of where they go and when via the NZ COVID Tracer App. Please check in using app at the front door when you enter any of our buildings.

Christchurch Hospital

Under COVID-19 Alert Level 2, visiting hours have changed and are from 3pm – 8pm until further notice. In addition:

• One visitor at a time is allowed in adult areas.
• One support person is allowed in outpatient areas.
• Two parents/caregivers are allowed in child health areas.
• Charge nurse managers can make exceptions on compassionate grounds.

Burwood Hospital

Visiting hours remain 11am – 7pm and:

• Only two visitors may visit an inpatient at a time. These can be different people each time.
• People attending an outpatient appointment can have one support person with them.
• Charge nurse managers can make exceptions on compassionate grounds.

Christchurch Women’s Hospital/Rangiora Health Hub Maternity/Lincoln Maternity/Ashburton Maternity

There is no change to visiting at Christchurch Women’s Hospital under Alert Level 2 with women in labour allowed two support people for the duration of her labour and birth.

For the duration of their postnatal stay a woman can have one named support person from the above bubble who will be able to visit once per day for any length of time from 10am-8pm (they will have to sign in at reception)

At Alert Level 2 we are asking all visitors to wear a mask when visiting our facilities if they can. It can be a fabric mask or scarf but must cover your nose and mouth.

There is no visiting at any Aged Residential Care Facilities operated by Canterbury DHB. This includes Tuarangi Home in Ashburton along with our facilities in Kaikoura, Ellesmere, Oxford, Darfield and Waikari.

Full details of further changes to visiting at other Canterbury DHB facilities are available on our website.

As always, please don’t visit if you’re unwell and remember the usual public health precautions such as hand hygiene and physical distancing (wherever possible stay two metres away from people you don’t know, and one metre away from people you do know).

If you have COVID-19 symptoms (any acute respiratory infection with at least one of the following symptoms: new or worsening cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, stuffy or runny nose, lost sense of smell – with or without a fever) you should contact your General Practice team or call Healthline on 0800 358 5453.

Most GP teams are offering testing if you have these symptoms. If you have symptoms and are not registered with a GP team you can attend the testing centre run by Whānau Ora at 250 Pages Road between 9am to 1pm, seven days a week. You do not need an appointment to attend.

If you are unwell and need to see a doctor you should call your usual GP team for advice 24/7. For general health information visit healthinfo.org.nz.

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