legends · 4 min read ·
Visiting Hours
A hospice visitor log shows one daughter signing in to sit with strangers, and never signing out.
**Harmony House Hospice · Visitor Log · Ward 2 (Rooms 201–208)**
*All visitors must sign in and out. Visiting hours: 14:00–20:00.*
- **Date · Time in · Visitor · Visiting · Time out**
- 1 Oct · 14:10 · Anne Doyle · Room 204 (Mr. Galloway) · 15:00
- 1 Oct · 16:30 · Tom Doyle · Room 204 (Mr. Galloway) · 17:10
- 2 Oct · 14:05 · Anne Doyle · Room 204 (Mr. Galloway) · 14:55
- 2 Oct · 18:20 · *Mrs. Galloway (deceased)* · Room 204 · —
- 3 Oct · 14:00 · Anne Doyle · Room 204 (Mr. Galloway) · 14:40
*Note from ward clerk: Mr. Galloway was discharged to a care home on 2 Oct. Room 204 has since been reassigned. Visitor entry on 2 Oct, 18:20, was recorded by the night staff in a different pen.*
· · ·
**Nursing observation (Room 204, night shift, 6 Oct)**
Room 204 is empty. Bed stripped. Locker cleared. A chair is positioned beside the bed, facing the window. On the chair, a visitor's coat, folded over the back. A pair of reading glasses, folded, on the seat.
Patient in room 206 asked the night nurse who the lady in the chair was. Nurse replied there was no one in 204. Patient said, "She's been sitting with the man next door every evening. She sings to him. He stopped being able to hear her a week ago, but she keeps coming."
· · ·
**Visitor log (Harmony House, 9 Oct)**
- **Date · Time in · Visitor · Visiting · Time out**
- 9 Oct · 14:00 · Anne Doyle · Room 205 (Mrs. Ferrier) · 14:45
- 9 Oct · 18:30 · Mrs. Galloway · Room 205 · —
*Note: visitor "Mrs. Galloway" is not on the approved visitor list. Staff member on duty reports the visitor was seen walking down the corridor from room 204 and entering room 205 without signing in. Staff member says the visitor was carrying a cup of tea.*
· · ·
**Bereavement counsellor's notes (Helen Shaw, 12 Oct)**
Session with Anne Doyle, daughter of Mrs. Ferrier (room 205, died 11 Oct).
Anne says she has been visiting every afternoon since her mother's diagnosis in July. She says her mother often had a visitor in the evenings, a woman in her sixties, with a grey cardigan and a soft voice, whom Anne never met. Her mother called her Edith.
Anne says she has been to the hospice every day since the funeral, and each time she signs in, she sees the previous entry is in her own handwriting, dated the time she was sitting in the chair, but she doesn't remember writing it.
· · ·
**Nursing observation (Room 205, 14 Oct)**
Room 205 cleared following discharge of deceased patient. Staff noted the chair beside the bed was occupied at 18:30 by a woman in a grey cardigan. She was holding a cup of tea and talking quietly to the empty bed. She did not respond when addressed.
Staff member asked the woman for her name. The woman replied, "I'm Mrs. Ferrier's sister. I've come to sit with her until the end. She'll be all right now. She's stopped asking for her mother."
· · ·
**Visitor log (Harmony House, 16 Oct)**
- **Date · Time in · Visitor · Visiting · Time out**
- 16 Oct · 14:00 · Anne Doyle · Ward 2 (general) · 14:30
- 16 Oct · 17:00 · Anne Doyle · Ward 2 (general) · —
*Note: Anne Doyle has signed in twice. She has not signed out. Staff member reports Anne was seen by the window of the day room at 20:00, sitting in the chair, facing the bed, with her hand on the blanket. The bed was empty.*
· · ·
**Bereavement counsellor's notes (Helen Shaw, 20 Oct)**
Anne attended a follow-up session, very pale, and reported she has now been sitting with a number of patients on the ward. She says it started with her mother, and then with Mr. Galloway, and now with the patients who haven't got anyone else to sit with them.
She asked me if I thought she was dead. I asked her why she would think that. She said she couldn't remember going home.
· · ·
**Final visitor log (Harmony House, 27 Oct)**
- **Date · Time in · Visitor · Visiting · Time out**
- 27 Oct · 13:55 · Anne Doyle · Ward 2 (all rooms) · —
*Note from ward clerk: Ward 2 closed for refurbishment on 28 Oct. The visitor book was signed out at 19:58 by a single entry covering all rooms. Chairs were moved to the store, which was locked at 20:00. The book has been retained for the coroner.*