ABSTRACT
This chapter provides guidelines for the non-professional carer and is intended to offer practical advice and ideas. The patient’s bedside is not a particularly private place. Older hospitals often had little opportunity for privacy except for a curtain round the bed. Most hospitals now do have a room somewhere where one can have a quiet confidential conversation. Hospital wards are also busy noisy places and one probably would find it much easier to be less distracted by the goings on around him/her. One should make sure that the patient is happy for things to be discussed – they have the right to refuse and the staff must respect the wishes of a competent patient. Patients can be easily tired and cannot always retain everything that is said, so one should be prepared for an advocate to be present. Their presence does not undermine one's role: they can be present when he/she is not.
