COVID -19: changes to our services

From Friday 2 September Te Whatu Ora Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley are permitting a maximum of two visitors at a time across all of our wards, units, and campuses – with the exception of high risk areas identified below. Non-essential visitors are allowed as long as they are wearing a mask and have no respiratory symptoms.

Medical masks must be worn by all visitors at all times while on our campuses and are available at our entrances. If you have an exemption, you may be permitted to visit under the restrictions described below.

 

General visiting hours for Wellington Regional Hospital and Kenepuru Hospital are 10am–1pm and 3pm–8pm daily.

Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Capital & Coast and Hutt Valley are working with our clinical specialists, Māori and Pacific providers, disability support community, PHOs, NGOs, and other partners to increase and enhance access to services in the community as we move towards ‘living with COVID-19’. We aim to enable people to remain well at home, or to access the services and support they need close to home, and not reach the point where they become so unwell that they require hospital-level care. Further detail on this planning and how it works will be released in the coming weeks.

Care in the Community is a national framework developed by Health New Zealand in consultation with the health and disability and welfare sector.  The framework sets expectations and provides central guidance to ensure people with COVID-19 receive the health, welfare and wellbeing support they need.

• You can find out more about the national framework here.
• Further information about COVID-19, isolating and preparedness visit https://covid19.govt.nz/

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, visiting is restricted at Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley facilities.

You can read the current visiting restrictions below.

We remain committed to enabling access to our facilities for whānau—whilst balancing risk for our patients, staff and our communities.

Our visiting policy has been designed for different levels of readiness:

You can read a full summary of the details under each stage in our full visitor policy here.

We are currently in COVID Readiness Stage 1 (this status will be updated if we move into a different stage)

Visiting under COVID Readiness Stage 1

From Friday 2 September 2022, there will be change to visiting restrictions at Wellington Regional Hospital and Kenepuru Hospital due to the lower numbers of people with COVID in the community.

Stage 1 general visitor restrictions

These restrictions apply to all hospital services apart from high-risk areas described in the section below.

• Visitors with no suspicion of COVID-19 will be able to enter. A maximum of two visitors at any one time may visit a patient at the hospital or clinic.
• Kaitiaki/Partners are agreed by the clinical area and nominated by Whānau and are able to visit at any time but are not included in the number of visitors.
• Children under 12 years old may visit and are counted as one of the two visitors (children under 12 months are not counted in the numbers).
• When more visitors need to be approved this will be at the discretion of the Charge Nurse Manager / Charge Midwife Manager and Senior Medical Officer. Whānau will nominate a key contact person.
• All visitors are to be wearing a medical mask and practice good hand hygiene.
• All visitors to practice safe social distancing and should remain two metres away from others as far as is practicable. Should this not be practical due to multi-bed rooms, the numbers of visitors in each multi-bedroom should be limited at each time to maintain distancing.

Outpatient clinics

• Patients are encouraged to come alone to their appointment if able.
• A maximum of two support people may accompany a patient if required. Kaitiaki / Partners in care are included in these numbers and may support / accompany at any time
• Interpreters are not counted as visitors.

Visitors to high risk areas

For maternity services: where there is no suspicion of COVID-19 contact or symptoms for either the women/pregnant person or visitors:

• Two people (birthing partner and one other support person) can accompany woman/pregnant person into the birthing suite. POC PCR/RAT test if indicated by RSV screening.
• Once the baby is born, two people (in addition to the birthing partner) can visit in the maternity ward/unit, at a time.
• The birth partner can stay overnight with agreement of the CMM.

COVID positive woman/person and birth partner

Birthing partners accompanying COVID positive woman will be assumed to be positive.

• One support person can accompany woman/pregnant person into the birthing suite.
• Once the baby is born, the same support person can stay in the maternity ward.

The support person is to remain room, and be provided meals to facilitate this. Generally they will not be able to accompany the COVID positive pregnant woman or person for tests and procedures. 

When staff are present, or when leaving the room they must wear a mask, use hand sanitiser and directly exit the hospital. COVID positive birthing partners should not access any of the hospital Cafes.

 

NICU/SCBU

• ICU will be allowing 2 visitors, per patient per day (HVDHB during visiting hours only unless agree otherwise) 
• 5 visitors allowed at the end of life

• One visitors at a time; and only during visiting hours
• Kaitiaki if granted an exemption can remain outside of visiting hours; and if staying overnight they will need to undergo a PCR (IDNow or lab based)

 

Ward 4 Kenepuru Hospital

If you are wanting to visit ward 4 at Kenepuru Hospital, please phone first on 04 385 5999 before coming in.

 

Visitors to inpatient areas with mask exemptions

• Visitors who are not able to wear a mask on site will have some restrictions placed on visiting in order to protect staff, themselves and our patients.
• High risk areas visits by visitors with mask exemptions may occur if:
• Patient being visited agrees and the patient is prepared to wear a medical mask themselves during the visit
• For high risk areas IC, NICU , Acute Frailty Unit (AFU) ,Kenepuru 4, 5 and Hutt OPRS and 5 North Oncology Wellington the visit can only occur in a single room
• And the visit lasts no more than 30 minutes.
• For non-high risk areas If a single room for the visit is not possible, then the visitor must agree to have a RAT test prior to entry to hospital (or can produce evidence of negative RAT within preceding 24 hours or negative PCR within preceding 48 hours) prior to visit being granted.
• For end of life care or emergency situations the wards will try to accommodate the needs of patient and their whanau as much as possible, but due to the pandemic, will not compromise the safety of other patients or staff.
• Note: Visits by people with mask exemptions will require coordination with the ward, and as such, must be arranged in advance.

 

View our full visiting policy here.

Nominated Kaitiaki/Partners in care, may visit at any time in agreement with clinical staff. Please liaise with the clinical team before visiting.

Kaitiaki are required to show vaccination status. If Kaitiaki/Partners in care are not vaccinated, they will be required to follow the mask requirements of the area they are in.

Kaitiaki are not general visitors, who may come and go to visit family or friends—Kaitiaki/Partners in care are nominated and agreed between the clinical care team and whānau and provide essential care for those who are longer term patients, or patients who require hospital services frequently. They are more involved in the care plan and actively contribute to outcomes.

Kaitiaki/Partners in care must be asymptomatic, not be household contacts and able to wear a mask.

 

Overnight stay for Kaitiaki/Partners in care

During phase 2 and 3 of hospital response phases the DHB recommend:

• RAT for family members prior to stay.
• Ensuring family members wear masks while outside of their rooms.
• Ensuring different family groups do not eat or drink together
  

If whānau members develop symptoms they should test themselves with RAT test provided by the DHB.

If whānau members are positive for COVID they should:

• Ring the manager of the facility to inform the manager.
• Make arrangements to leave the facility and return home.
• The manager will contact the Infection, Prevention and Control team for advice.
• In special circumstances positive family members may need to self-isolate in the facility.

This will affect the facilities ability to provide care to others and will need to be discussed with manager and IPC team.

At phases 2 and 3, if a Kaitiaki/Partner in care is staying overnight, a RAT test may be performed on the ward in a suitable space. Self-testing with RAT may be delegated to Kaitiaki Partner in care who is competent with this. 

Community-based Assessment Centres have been set up across the Wellington Region.

Find out more about centre locations and the testing process

If you are pregnant and expecting to give birth soon, you may be worried about what giving birth will be like under the COVID protection framework.

Maternity care is an essential service.  All your maternity care will still be provided. However, to protect you, your baby and your whānau, we’ve made some changes to how we work.

For the safety of you, your baby, your whanāu, and our teams, our routine care has been changed to protect everyone. This includes restricting your visitors and support people. 

Please take note of the restrictions in the section above for information about support people during this time.

Our staff, and hospital teams are all aware of how difficult this is for you. We encourage the use of video calls with your whānau and friends. Speak to our staff if you need some assistance to stay connected while in hospital.

Information for pregnant women and mums who are breastfeeding is available on the Ministry of Health website.

COVID-19 is an illness that can affect your lungs and airways.

In severe cases, it can cause pneumonia and severe infection of the lungs.

Going to your GP if you think you may have COVID-19

• If you need to see a Doctor or other medical professional you MUST phone first.
• Most consultations will happen over the phone (or by video call) to stop any risk of the disease spreading by person to person contact.
• If a face to face meeting is required, your doctor or other medical professional will organise this with you.
• If you cannot get through and are severely unwell, for example having trouble breathing, call 111 for an ambulance.

When should I seek medical advice?

If you are concerned about symptoms you are experiencing, please contact the dedicated COVID-19 Healthline (for free) on 0800 358 5453 or your doctor.

More information about accessing healthcare can be found on www.covid19.govt.nz

New Zealand citizens and residents returning home

Public health staff are working with border agencies to ensure New Zealand citizens and residents returning home are screened as they enter the country, and aware of the need to self-isolate and understand what that means.

Self-isolation means avoiding situations where you could infect other people. If you have to self-isolate please register register with Healthline online. If you have issues with the online registration, you can also register by calling 0800 358 5453.

Staff at airports and ports have information on hand that advises people what to look out for and what to do if they get symptoms.

There are lots of things that you can do to keep yourself and those around you well.

Look after yourself If you or someone you know needs wellbeing support or advice, call or text 1737 to speak with a trained counsellor. This confidential service is free of charge and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There’s also useful information on the government’s website COVID19.govt.nz
Be kind and stay connected This is a stressful time for many. Remember to be kind.  While we need to maintain physical distance, it is important to stay connected.  Check in on the elderly or vulnerable by phone or video call. Connect them with specialist help (health or welfare for example) if it is needed. Make a difference by dropping off supplies to those who are home sick and ‘virtually’ check in with whānau, friends and neighbours.
Stay home You must stay home unless you work in an essential service. We all need to do everything we can to break the chain of possible transmission of COVID-19 (and other viruses) in our communities. If you're outside the house, please keep at least two metres away from others.
Protect yourself and others Wash your hands with soap and water often (for at least 20 seconds). Then dry. Cough or sneeze into your elbow or by covering your mouth and nose with tissues. Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces and objects, such as doorknobs. Put used tissues in the bin or a bag immediately. Stay home if you feel unwell. Don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands are not clean. Put used tissues in the bin or a bag immediately. Stay home if you feel unwell.

 

 

 

More COVID-19 related health information is available on the Ministry of Health website www.health.govt.nz/covid-19

For information about the national response to COVID-19 and support from across government go to www.covid19.govt.nz