Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that critically ill patients do not die alone in the hospital.

Since the end of the national restrictions, hospital visiting is subject to local discretion by trusts and other National Health Service bodies. Organisations should use their own risk-based assessment to decide to what extent more relaxed visiting arrangements can be facilitated for those at the end of life. Families should be reassured that if they are not present when their loved one dies, staff will always be with and comfort the patient.