Please remember visiting hours at Dargaville Hospital

Family and friends visiting patients at Dargaville Hospital are reminded to please respect official visiting hours.

Visiting hours for the hospital, including the maternity unit, are 11am to 8pm. Anyone wishing to visit outside these hours should get permission from the Team Leader in the Inpatient Unit.

Under certain circumstances, for example if a patient is very sick, visiting is allowed at other times, but this must be done by arrangement with hospital staff.

Dargaville Hospital Operations Manager, Jen Thomas, said: "The restrictions on visiting hours are designed to ensure that patients get the quiet time they need to rest, and for nursing and medical care to be provided. This is very important for the patient's recovery.

"Patients also need time without visitors in the wards so that they can undergo treatment such as physiotherapy and occupational therapy. We welcome visitors but would like to remind families and friends of the importance of respecting visiting hours, for the sake of the patient."

Visitors should ensure that they enter the hospital via the main entrance, which is open until 8.30pm daily. After this time limited parking is available at the rear of the hospital building, with access via the ambulance entrance.

Jen Thomas said: "Visitors are also requested not to walk along the external balcony and enter patient rooms via the French doors; this compromises patient privacy as well as being a security issue, as staff must know who is in the ward at any time in case of an emergency."


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For further information, please contact:

Clare Blackburn, Communications Manager

Northland District Health Board 

Phone (09) 430 4101 ext 3315