Patients encouraged to stay connected using free hospital Wifi

Patients at Hawke’s Bay Hospital are being encouraged to stay connected with loved ones during its Covid-19 no-visitor policy restrictions, by using the hospital’s free wifi.

Hawke’s Bay District Health Board introduced the strict no-visitor policy following the Level 4 lockdown announcement to further protect its patients, staff, visitors and the wider community.

Director of Digital Enablement, Anne Speden, said patients were encouraged to bring their phone or other personal devices with them to help stay connected with friends and whānau.

“We appreciate being in hospital during this time may be even more stressful for patients, so it’s more important than ever we encourage our patients to use our free wifi to stay connected with their loved ones.”

Ms Speden said the DHB, in partnership with Spark, had recently improved its wifi capability from 2Gb to 5Gb, meaning there was plenty of capacity available and people would not have to use their own mobile data.

“Access is free and there is no password needed, so we encourage our patients to make good use of it.”

All Hawke's Bay DHB facilities currently have a no visitors policy.

Exceptions:

  • End of life care - one nominated person can support a terminal patient through end of life care
  • Children - one parent/guardian can support a child in hospital
  • Maternity - one support person only for a woman in labour

The decision about whether exceptional circumstances apply is at the Charge Nurse Manager's or another lead clinician discretion.

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