Wednesday, 13 May 2020
Bay of Plenty DHB Updates Visitor Policy under Alert Level 2
The Bay of Plenty District Health Board recognises the important role of visitors in the healing process. With this in mind, we have updated our visitor policy under COVID-19 Alert Level 2, while continuing to protect patients and staff from any potential risk of exposure. The managed visitor access for Tauranga and Whakat훮ne hospitals will allow one visitor at a time per patient, effective from Thursday 14 May. In the emergency department, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), High Dependency Unit (HDU) and Acute Care Unit (ACU) the general principle is for one visitor per patient and one visit per day. For the maternity ward it is one nominated support person during labour and birth; for postnatal and antenatal patients can have their nominated support person plus one other nominated visitor (this must be the same person each day and not visiting at the same time as the support person). No overnight stays will be permitted unless the woman is in labour and for early post-natal support. In the Special Care Bay Unit (SCBU) the visitor policy allows for mother plus one nominated support person per day. The nominated support person must be the same person each day and cannot visit the unit at the same time as the mother. In other hospital areas, it's still one visitor at a time but more than one person is able to visit during the day. Each visitor can only visit once per day. Appropriate screening will take place for all visitors before they are allowed to enter the facility to ensure they are well. All visitors will continue to be required to complete the visitors register on entry and exit of the hospital for contact tracing purposes, and wear a visitor sticker. Clinical Nurse Managers/Clinical Midwife Managers or Duty Nurse Managers will consider additional requests on a case-by-case basis for compassionate reasons. Should a patient be confirmed with COVID-19 or suspect or probable for COVID-19, then no visitors are allowed. Visiting hours will be from 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week. People who would like more information can phone the Patient Information Centre on 0800333477 or email contactus@bopdhb.govt.nz in advance. Our M훮ori Health Gains and Development team are available to provide guidance and support to M훮ori wh훮nau who want to understand how to provide manaakitanga to their loved ones in the