Companion logistics
| Topic | What to confirm | Who owns it |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Their passport and the rule that applies | Immigration, not the hospital file |
| Sleep | Ward or a nearby hotel | The ward’s rule, then a hotel |
| Consent | Who the facility allows to sign | The facility and the patient |
| Support task | Rooms, meals, transfers | A coordination quote if you want one |
A companion needs a passport, permission to enter, a place to sleep, meals, and rest. They are not a clinician and they are not an interpreter unless that was arranged on purpose.
What does a companion need that is separate from the patient?
Immigration looks at the companion’s passport, not at the patient’s appointment. Read visas and entry for each person. A child traveling as a visitor still needs the documents your embassy and the airline require. We do not give pediatric medical advice, and we do not say a child should or should not make the trip.
Ask the ward whether the companion can stay overnight. If the answer is no, book the companion a room near the campus and a way to eat when the hospital canteen is closed to visitors. Family and companion support describes logistics for that person. It does not make them a decision-maker. The patient and the clinical team decide care, unless the facility has its own written rule about who may consent.
The companion should rest. A person who has sat in a corridor for two days is a poor support on discharge morning. Build a dull afternoon into the itinerary. Do not fill it with a sightseeing list.
Share the Chinese address, the international desk number, and the insurer’s assistance number with the companion before you land. They should be able to show those without unlocking a translation app. Hospital accompaniment, if you hire it, is an extra person for desks. It does not replace the companion you trust.
What to write down
- Companion passport and entry rule
- Where they sleep if the ward says no
- Meals when visitor hours end
- A rest block on a long day
- Numbers printed in their pocket
- No assumption that they may consent
Related coordination
These links leave the travel-guide article for the medical desk or for a sibling guide. They do not replace the primary sources below.
Sources and last review
Last reviewed 28 October 2026. Immigration rules, customs notices, hospital instructions, and insurance letters change. Read the primary source for your passport and your facility. Counsel, the facility, and any supplier have not signed this page.
Ways to sequence the preparation
These are preparation steps, not a clinical timetable and not a fixed tour departure.
Check every passport
Time fit: With the entry guide
Companion and any child visitor, separately from the patient.
- Accompanying a patient
- Check every passport
Why choose it: Companion and any child visitor, separately from the patient.
Book the backup room
Time fit: When the ward replies
If overnight is refused, the companion still needs a bed near the campus.
- Accompanying a patient
- Book the backup room
Why choose it: If overnight is refused, the companion still needs a bed near the campus.
Leave a rest hour
Time fit: Each clinic day
Do not schedule the companion as a tour guide after a ward day.
- Accompanying a patient
- Leave a rest hour
Why choose it: Do not schedule the companion as a tour guide after a ward day.
Ask the owner of the fact
Use the primary source and the facility before you treat this article as permission to travel or to receive care.
Related planning
Questions people ask
- Yes. The patient’s appointment is not the companion’s entry permission.
- Only if you arranged interpretation on purpose and the hospital accepts that person for consent. Do not assume either role.
- Ask the ward about age rules for visitors. We do not set them and we do not give medical advice about a child patient.
- Usually you do, unless your insurer wrote that they will. Ask them. Our fee does not silently include a second room.
Talk to the medical desk
The medical desk coordinates logistics after a facility has its own plan. It does not diagnose, quote a treatment, or decide entry.
