COVID -19: changes to our services

Capital & Coast and Hutt Valley DHBs 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 the Ministry of Health 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/

Visiting Restrictions COVID-19

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

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

From 8am Tuesday 10 May 2022, there will be change to visiting restrictions at Wellington Regional Hospital and Kenepuru Hospital. We are easing restrictions in most areas to reflect the level of COVID in our hospital facilities.

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 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 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 visitors to 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

General visitors are restricted in the following high risk areas of our hospitals. Please make sure you read the full visitor policy before making plans and call ahead if you are unsure. Kaitiaki/Partners providing essential care can visit anytime. Kaitiaki/Partners are nominated by whānau and agree by the clinical area.

Visitors with known COVID-19 contact or symptoms will not be granted access and will be directed to Community Based Assessment Centre (CBAC) or to contact Healthline or GP.

No visitors under 12 years without prior approval from the Charge Nurse Manager / Charge Midwife Manager.

Birthing Suite and Maternity Wards (CCDHB includes 4 North Gynae)

For maternity services: where there is no suspicion of COVID-19 contact or symptoms for either the patient or visitors, two people (birthing partner and one other support person) can accompany patients into the birthing suite. All admitted woman will undergo POC PCR. All birthing partners will undergo a RAT.

Once the baby is born, two people at a time can visit. The birthing partner is counted as a visitor so if present it is the birthing partner plus one visitor. 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.

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

When they leave the room they must wear a mask, use hand sanitiser and directly exit the hospital. COVID positive birthing partners are not to go to access any of the Cafes.

NICU/SCBU

Both parents and/or legal guardians may visit. No siblings or other whānau are permitted without prior approval

Oncology (Cancer) 5 North

Visiting is only allowed during visiting hours and is limited to 1 adult at a time

Dialysis

Due to space constraints no visiting or support people

Emergency Department and Kenepuru Accident and Medical

One visitor (and one support person if required – see page 5 for definition People with Disabilities) – not interchangeable – unless approved by Charge Nurse Manager / Senior Medical Officer
If unable to maintain social distancing in waiting room and in department, will ask support people to leave
Minimised movement around department
Parents/support people accompanying children should be well. If unable to provide a well parent, then must follow droplet precautions for both parent and child

COVID In patient wards

Visiting as agreed by Charge Nurse Manager / Charge Midwife Manager and Senior Medical Officer

Intensive Care

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

2DHB Health of The Older Person’s wards including Kenepuru Hospital

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.

View our full visiting policy here.

Guidance for Kaitiaki/partners in care

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 agreed between the clinical care team and whānau and may support 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.

COVID-19 testing

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

Information on testing sites, hours, and how to book a test is located on Healthpoint.

If you don’t manage to get through to our booking number at first, please try again. We have increased the number of sites and extended our hours so everyone who needs to be tested can be tested.

These centres, also known as CBACs (Community Based Assessment Centres), are primarily to screen and assess people for testing, and test those who meet the criteria

No on-demand (or drop-in) COVID-19 testing is being carried out in the hospital. Please follow the instructions on your referral letter for directions on how to get to a testing facility.

Thank you to everyone for your patience.

Find out more about centre locations and the testing process

Maternity Care

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.

Working with our disability community

We're working to ensure that information about COVID-19 is accessible and ensuring we respond to our community needs as we tackle COVID-19. We're also working with the Wellington Regional Emergency Management Office (WREMO) to ensure emergency responses connect everyone to the support they need.

We will be providing regular updates here.

Accessing Healthcare

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.

Help us unite against COVID-19

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 information

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

Last updated 27 May 2022.