Why do some partners stay all day?

Well that’s the point isn’t it - you don’t know why some adults may have more of a need for a visitor.

My friend's mother is currently in hospital and my friend is with her all day long.
She has even taken her camper van to the hospital so she can be in the ward from breakfast until bedtime and then go back and sleep in the van.

This has been going on for nearly two months now. I can understand it short term, especially if her mother was very sick, but this seems crazy to me.

She must be under the staff's feet and it must mean her mother, and perhaps other patients, can't get the rest they need. Visiting hours used to give patients privacy and rest and I'm sure that's important.

Everyone is different, have different needs and different relationships.

It would have been quite reasonable to ask the nurse to ask the visitor to leave the bay for a short period due to procedures for other patients (i.e. they don't have to say "leave so X can use a commode).

I was in for day surgery last week. On my 6 bed bay;

• early-70s who had been in for at least a couple of nights, her husband came around 10am and was still there when I left at 7pm.
• 90yo who was still there after 9 nights due to a fall, and had no visitors.
• early-60s who'd been in overnight, no visitors until she was discharged late afternoon but was on the phone a lot.
• mid-40s who'd been in at least overnight, no visitors & no or very few calls & kept curtains closed most of the time.
• early 40s in for day surgery, accompanied by both parents the whole time.
• me, DP dropped me outside and came to pick me up when I messaged that I'd been discharged. No calls, but lots of messaging.

Lots of noisy visitors can be annoying, but a sole visitor sitting by the bedside and helping wouldn't bother me personally.

When my late-DH was admitted following his cancer diagnosis I was there from around 10am till quite late for at least a week. To be honest I didn't think he'd be coming home, and we both just wanted to spend that time together.

I absolutely agree. I've been an in patient a few times this year and I don't enjoy other people's husbands so close to me.
Going to the loo is one such private matter plus medics discussing your care.
I sleep in pyjamas but I feel exposed without corsetry which I'm not allowed to wear due to my illness.
I think visitors should get two hours max then bog off.
You're not being unreasonable and sometimes I wonder if these men are control freaks (I've heard their conversation, it's frequently about how the patients illness is impacting them).

I don’t understand why an adult needs someone with them all the time, I find visitors, mine and other people’s exhausting when I’m in hospital. They just get in the way, and as silly as it sounds, I find knowing someone is coming for an hour or two later in the day is something to looks forward too

I’m sure the answer is that nurses are too stretched these days, but filling the place with visitors doesn’t seem to be the answer!

I'd have used the commode and let that man hear me horse piss if he wants to sit on a women's hospital ward all day long.

I agree with this! I don’t know why visitors to adults have to be there so much of the time!

I would have been ok with the curtain but I can understand why you weren’t Op.

I don’t see it makes much difference having a patient or visitor next door. It’s embarrassing regardless.
Visiting times don’t really change things, you can’t predict when you will need the toilet.
And with nurses being so stretched it is nice to have someone there to help grab stuff, get drinks, help you to toilet etc.

I would have been fine just pulling a curtain across. You are not much further away from a man in mixed sex cubicle toilet.

Not oversensitive. It's not nice just having a curtain between you and other people when you're trying to do something both necessary and private.

Bring back visiting times! Why can't adults manage by themselves in hospital? They're not infants or small children.