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Companion services

Marie Curie Companions are trained volunteers who provide free emotional and practical companionship for people at or approaching the end of life, and those close to them. They can offer support at home, in hospital or over the phone.

Companion at home service

Find out how your patients could benefit from our Companion at home service, which offers companionship and practical support to terminally ill people, their families and carers.

Companions in hospital service

Find out how your patients could benefit from our Companion in hospital service, which offers companionship for people at the end of life while they're in hospital. Currently, they're available in Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset.

  • Marie Curie Companions support people in hospital as they're dying. Often, this means supporting someone who has no one else.

    Companions can also offer families respite, giving them time to deal with other responsibilities as their family member is dying by making sure they aren't alone. They can also act as an advocate for the person who's dying and their family and provide support and signposting to bereaved families.

    Companions in hospital are available at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, Somerset. They're available between 9am and 9pm, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

  • Marie Curie Companions also offer a series of support phone calls to provide a listening ear, comfort and compassion following a bereavement.

    At the moment, Companion in hospital volunteers can only offer bereavement support to people in Wales and the South West whose loved one was cared for by Marie Curie community nursing, or who died in Musgrove Park or at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.

    Marie Curie's Support Line offers free bereavement support over the phone to people across the UK.

  • Marie Curie Companions in Somerset can also help with advance care planning, the process of making decisions about what kind of care someone would like to have in the future.

    A specially trained volunteer arranges to meet the person virtually, or goes to their home to work out and document their wishes and hopes, both for themselves and their loved ones. This will then be properly documented for them to keep and share.

    They can talk the person through things like their preferences, wishes, beliefs, values and feelings about:

    • what makes them "them"
    • their personal goals or care wishes
    • treatments or interventions they might want to refuse
    • types of decisions that may need to be made about their care and treatment in the future
    • who they'd want to make decisions for them if at any point they can't make them themselves
    • a Lasting Power of Attorney for Health and Social Care. 

    Please note this service is currently only available in Somerset, as part of Somerset Talk About Project. You can download a leaflet about the service to share with your patients.

    People living in Taunton, West Somerset or the surrounding areas including Bridgwater, Chard, Langport and Ilminster, North Sedgemoor and Wellington/Tone Valley, can call us on 0800 304 7412 or email lat.mccompanionservice@nhs.net to find out more.

    People who don't live in Somerset who need support with advance care planning, can look at our information or call our Support Line on 0800 090 2309.

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