Visiting friends and relatives in care homes, hospitals and hospices

Different places you might visit

Residential homes provide a place to live and help with personal care. Nursing homes also have qualified nurses on duty. Both are care homes. Hospitals provide assessment and treatment. Hospices support people with illnesses that cannot be cured, including help with symptoms and emotional needs. Hospice care can begin well before someone’s last days; some people stay briefly and return home. Ask the particular service what your visit may be like.

Start with the person’s wishes

Ask whether the person wants you to visit, when and for how long. Offer ways to answer that work for them, including pictures, signs or their communication aid. Their wishes can change. A learning disability or dementia does not automatically stop someone deciding about visitors. If they cannot make this particular decision, staff must follow the applicable decision-making law, including their wishes and best interests. Being a relative does not automatically give someone authority to decide for them.

Plan the journey and arrival

Contact the home, ward or hospice before travelling. Check the address, room or ward, visiting arrangements and who will meet you. Plan your journey home as well as getting there. Ask about accessible entrances, lifts, parking costs, toilets and somewhere to rest. Check arrangements for children, pets or overnight stays rather than assuming these are available. Ask staff to explain how to sign in and where to wait.

Ask for help with your own needs

You may need someone to travel with you, picture directions, clear words, an interpreter or a quieter time. Explain what will help and ask for reasonable adjustments. Discuss bringing your own supporter with the service and the person you are visiting. Ask staff to explain unfamiliar surroundings or equipment. Staff can give general explanations, but must respect the person’s confidentiality when sharing health information.

Enjoy time together

Ask what the person would enjoy. You could talk about everyday news, share photographs, listen to music, do a familiar activity or sit quietly. Say who you are if this helps. Give them time to respond and do not make conversation feel like a test. Ask before touching or hugging them. Offer a shorter visit if they are tired, and let them rest. Agree another visit or call if they want one.

Stay safe during the visit

Clean your hands when arriving and leaving, and follow the service’s infection precautions. If you have an illness you might pass on, contact staff before travelling and postpone an ordinary visit until it is safe. If the person is dying, tell staff urgently so they can consider how contact can be supported safely. Check before bringing food, drinks, flowers or other gifts. Follow the person’s eating and drinking plan; do not give medicines or adjust equipment yourself. Ask staff for help.

Privacy and worries about care

Ask permission before taking or sharing photographs. Avoid including other residents, patients or private information. Staff may need privacy for personal care or treatment; ask when you can return. If the person seems in pain, more sleepy, confused or otherwise different from usual, tell the staff straight away and ask for a review. Give examples of what has changed. If someone may be seriously unwell, seek urgent help rather than waiting for a complaint.

Wanted visits should be supported

In England, Regulation 9A applies to relevant registered care homes, hospitals and hospices. It protects people’s ability to receive visits they want and accompaniment to hospital or hospice day appointments. Care-home residents must not be discouraged from visits out. The starting point is to make contact possible, using the least restrictive safe arrangements. A service should restrict a wanted visit only in exceptional circumstances, after considering precautions that could make it safe. The person’s refusal and lawful restrictions still matter. Supported-living and extra-care accommodation are outside Regulation 9A. Hospice-at-home is not automatically covered by this premises-based duty. People still have other rights.

Support and visits outside usual arrangements

Explain if your presence helps the person communicate, understand care or feel safe. Ask how this support can continue, including different times where needed. Hospital learning disability liaison staff may help. The service remains responsible for safe care; visitors should not be expected to replace staff. If a care-home resident wants an outing, plan any support, transport, medicines and return arrangements together. Visiting rights do not automatically provide free transport or extra staff.

If staff restrict a wanted visit

Ask the manager for an understandable reason, whose wishes were considered, what safer alternatives were tried and when the restriction will be reviewed. Restrictions should respond to the individual situation and be removed when no longer needed. Ask about a quieter space, different time or other proportionate precaution. A phone or video call can help if a visit is temporarily impossible, but should not replace a wanted in-person visit that can happen safely.

Getting help with an unresolved restriction

For hospital care, ask the ward manager, learning disability liaison team, PALS or complaints service. In a care home or hospice, ask the manager for the complaints procedure and whether the organisation paying for care can help. An advocate can help the person explain their wishes. You can give CQC information about care, but it generally does not resolve individual complaints. If staff rely on a court order or mental health law, ask for advice about the particular restriction.

When someone is very ill or dying

Ask staff to explain what you might see and how you can spend time together comfortably. You do not need perfect words. Quiet company, familiar music or holding a hand, if wanted, may be enough. Ask about private space, flexible visiting and whether an overnight stay can be arranged. CQC expects in-person visits at the end of life to be supported; this is not only about the final hours. If the situation is urgent, tell the staff now.

Look after yourself and keep in touch

A visit can bring up sadness, worry or other strong feelings. You can ask someone to come with you, take a break or talk afterwards. You can also choose not to visit and discuss another way to show you care. Ask about a phone call, video call, card or message that the person would enjoy. Agree who will help with this if needed. If someone dies, ask for clear information and bereavement support that you understand.

Visiting friends and relatives

Plan your visit

What the visit may be like

Keeping everyone safe

Visiting rights and getting help

When someone is very ill

What you can do next

More useful links