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

Executive Management

The Leadership Team is responsible for management​ matters for Te Whatu Ora Te Tai o Poutini West Coast.

You can also find out about our national leadership team on the Te Whatu Ora national website.

Meet the members of our Executive Management Team

Philip is responsible for the health services provided by Te Whatu Ora Te Tai o Poutini West Coast’s team of nearly 1000 staff from Karamea to Haast.

He has senior management experience in the private and public sectors, developing and building teams that excel in achieving their objectives. Philip’s experience in New Zealand and overseas, across diverse industries, provides him with a wealth of experience to support teams to look outside the box.

Philip is passionate about rural health care delivery and how the West Coast health system can lead the way in this area, providing consistent, high quality, person-centred care to the West Coast community.

Contact details:

03 769-7400, extn. 2477

Dan Pallister-Coward is the Regional Director for Hospital and Specialist Services for Te Waipounamu. Dan held leadership positions within the former Canterbury District Health Board for nine years, including General Manager for Burwood Hospital and the services covering Older Person’s Health, orthopaedics, community rehabilitation services and community dental services. For the past six months he was interim National Chief Operating Officer.

Dan sees the Regional Director role as an exciting challenge in today’s environment of innovative change with focus on equity. “I look forward to strengthening our relationships across the community in partnership with iwi, growing the trust to influence change, while growing the teams to meet future demands on our services.”

Dan brings strong leadership, partnership and relationship skills that continue to be applied wider than the health sector, with a passion for continuous development, curiosity and self-awareness that enables him to transition across environments.

Dan Pallister-Coward

Karalyn is responsible for the Communications team, which interacts with the media and public and keeps staff informed of what’s going on in the DHB. The Communications team is responsible for external and internal communications, which includes publications and health campaigns.  Karalyn has been in this role since 2011. Before that she was a senior advisor at the Ministry of Health. She has also worked at Hawke’s Bay District Health Board and the office of the Minister of Health. She is a member of the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand and International Association of Business Communicators.

Contact details:

03 364-4103
03 364-4101

Rob OjalaRob Ojala leads the facilities redevelopment for Te Whatu Ora, Te Waipounamu (South Island). Rob is an Emergency Physician by training and has been with Canterbury DHB for the past 20 years following completion of his specialist training in Melbourne.

He has been clinical lead for facilities redevelopment for Canterbury DHB for 10 years prior to his current role. During this time he has overseen the delivery of the Burwood Hospital redevelopment and extensive change on the Christchurch Hospital campus with a new Outpatients Building being constructed, and Waipapa the acute services facility.  During 2021 his focus is on the redevelopment of the remainder of Christchurch Hospital, redevelopments and new facilities for specialist mental health services on the Hillmorton campus along with a number of other facilities projects.

Rob also continues his clinical practice as an Emergency Physician at Christchurch Hospital’s Emergency Department.

David Green is an experienced financial controller with over 23 years of experience in the Health Sector, including 17 years as the CDHB Financial Controller.

 

Jacqui joined the West Coast DHB leadership team in November 2018. She is a qualified occupational therapist, and was previously Chief Health Professions Officer for the Scottish Government.

Her experience spans the public and private healthcare systems in the UK, and includes clinical leadership positions, founding and running of her own business, and advising the World Health Organisation. In 2015 Jacqui was made a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to healthcare and the health care professions.

Becky works closely with the Directors of Nursing and other nursing leaders across the Canterbury health system. As EDON she holds several portfolios including Care Capacity Demand Management, Infection Prevention & Control Nursing, Nursing Workforce Development, and Corporate Quality and Patient Safety teams. Becky is also the Canterbury Executive Lead for Manawa Governance which includes simulation, research and education as well as for Te Papa Hauora (Health Precinct) Advisory Council.

Becky is a Registered Comprehensive Nurse and has worked in nursing since 1982, completing both a Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership and Management as well as a Masters in Health Science. She has previously been a Nurse Manager for Workforce Development, working with the EDON and Directors of Nursing for the past 15 years. Becky is a member of Nurse Executives of New Zealand, and the College of Nurses Aotearoa.

Becky Hickmott

Norma held the position of the Director of Midwifery within a transalpine role for Canterbury and the West Coast DHBs for four years, after moving from her previous 17 year national role with the College of Midwives into the DHB system and the operational space of a large tertiary facility that provides referral services for much of the South Island. At the same time Norma had responsibility for sustaining community units at Lincoln/Selwyn, Rangiora and Ashburton, as well as responsibility for the remote rural maternity systems in the Chathams, Kaikoura and the West Coast and how to sustain care closer to home.

Since 2017, Norma has, with colleagues, driven the development of a Maternity Strategy for both Canterbury and the West Coast. The same pillars have been used for the districts but two very different strategies have emerged following hui in both districts. The solutions can often have the same overlying framework, but locally applied solutions which make sense to the local community are what make the difference within such frameworks.

Within her role, Norma sits on various multi-disciplinary groups that link to community and public health work, as well as Christchurch Campus and Greymouth Campus work.

Norma is a Registered Midwife and has worked in hospital and community settings since 1990, where māmā and their pēpi have always been at the centre of her work.

Norma Campbell

The Regional Wayfinder role is responsible for providing rangatiratanga leadership to multiple locally-based Commissioning teams across the relevant region in order to ensure that locality teams are able to support their local communities and whānau in the pursuit of Pae Ora.

Chiquita has held a variety of nursing leadership roles and has been Chief Executive of the MidCentral district’s Primary Health Organisation, THINK Hauora since 2013. Chiquita is passionate about whanau and community led solutions and has strongly advocated a pro-equity approach to health service delivery.

Chiquita Hansen

Vince Barry is the Regional Director for the National Public Health Service across Te Waipounamu. Vince was the first Regional Director to be appointed and took up the role in August 2022. His role is focused on leading public health services at a regional level and working in partnership with colleagues at Te Whatu Ora, Te Aka Whai Ora and the Public Health Agency.

Page last updated: 15 December 2023

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