When you arrive
Checking in
Ronald McDonald House Auckland administration is open from 8:30am until 9:30pm daily. Usually your travel is dictated by hospital admission or clinic times however where possible please ensure you arrive within these times. Please call us on +64 9 303 1365 and let us know if you are going to arrive outside these hours.
If you arrive early or indeed at any time in the morning your room may not available as ward rounds, when children are discharged, don’t happen until mid morning. We also do a thorough clean of rooms between families. Don’t worry if your room is not ready, we can still check you in and orientate you. We’ll store your luggage until your room has been cleared and thoroughly cleaned. In the meantime you can use the House facilities or go up to the hospital. Usually by the time you get back to the House your room will be available.
If arriving the night before you are due at the hospital and we have your booking, please try to arrive at a reasonable hour as we have limited staff cover in the evenings.
To ensure your stay at Ronald McDonald House Auckland is a comfortable one, we ask you to allow 20 minutes when you arrive for check-in and orientation. One of our Family Liaison staff will meet with you and take you through the House rules and give you a contract to sign which acknowledges you have read and accept our rules.
The Ronald McDonald House Family Room staff will also spend time with each family member explaining how the accommodation works and showing you to your room (this will take a much shorter time, so allow 5 minutes maximum).
We ask everybody who is booked into the House, Family Room or one of the nearby motels to sign a contract. This is so everyone staying with us understands the level of behavior we expect, and so that everyone can have a comfortable stay. The rules aren’t onerous but cover things like child supervision in the House or nearby motel, use of the fitness centre, visitor rules and our drug and alcohol policies.
You will also find out about regular House events like our free weekly family dinners that are cooked by volunteers, our regular van service for family shopping trips (thanks to the kindness of our trust partner Heart Children) and our free of charge visits to Auckland Zoo and Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic Encounter & Underwater World.
Lastly, you will be taken on a tour of the House so you can find your way around and you will be shown both the car park and the location of your room. You will be issued electronic access keys to the House and be allocated a space in the kitchen for your personal food stores and shown the family laundry. Unfortunately the Family Room doesn’t have dedicated parking but your ward staff can assist you with this for short term periods.
Checking out
As soon as you know that your child is to be discharged please advise a Family Liaison staff member or our receptionist. This will allow us to plan our room allocation when we are at peak demand. If things change and your departure is delayed please don’t worry, we won’t ask you to leave until your child is finally discharged.
On the day of departure you will need to meet with our Family Liaison staff to hand over your keys and to sign over anything we have lent you to make your stay more comfortable. We also need you to have completed any paperwork relating to your stay that is required by the Ministry of Health or your referring DHB so that we can claim a subsidy for your visit (if you are eligible).
Site map
The RMH Auckland Trust funds and governs Ronald McDonald House Auckland (48 rooms) and the Ronald McDonald House Family Room (13 short stay critical care rooms) in Starship Hospital. It is a registered community charitable trust comprised of the following partners: Auckland District Health Board, Child Cancer Foundation, Heart Children, The Rotary Club of Downtown Auckland, Ronald McDonald House Charities and 2 community representatives. The House and Family Room provide a ‘home away from home’ for over 3,000 families of children with life-threatening illnesses each year. The Trust through its staff and partnerships actively fundraises throughout New Zealand to achieve the $2,300,000 p.a. it needs to run the facilities and support its families. Charity Registration number: CC23591