What is the difference between a bedside companion and a nurse?

A bedside companion is present, observes, protects and reassures — but does not carry out nursing tasks such as repositioning, wound care or giving medication. Nurses do both; a bedside companion specialises in being there.

Can bedside companions come at night?

Yes. Overnight care is one of our most frequent requests. We arrive at the agreed time and stay until morning — if needed for several nights in succession, on a rota within a settled team.

How quickly is a bedside companion available?

In emergencies often within 24 hours, sometimes the same day. For assignments that can be planned further ahead (after an operation, for instance) we need only two to three days of notice.

Are the bedside companions professionally qualified?

We deploy different qualifications depending on the situation. In medically delicate situations a registered nurse comes. Where presence alone is required, an experienced care worker is often enough. We clarify this in the first talk.

Can we claim the bedside companion through the long-term care insurer?

Not directly — we invoice exclusively as a private-pay service. Where a care level (Pflegegrad) has been awarded you can, however, use the relief allowance (125 € per month) or respite care and submit our invoice yourself. We will advise you on what is possible.

Who is liable if something happens?

We carry professional indemnity insurance. Damage caused by our staff is settled through that policy.

Bedside companions in Berlin — when no one should be alone

A bedside companion (Sitzwache) means this: someone is there. Not for medical treatment — doctors and nurses do that. But for the presence itself. For the sense that someone stays when the night grows long, when the operation is coming, when the confusion arrives and passes and arrives again.

Heilpraxis Frommholz arranges bedside companions across Berlin — in hospital, on psychiatric wards, in hospices and at home. We have specialised in one-to-one care for over 15 years. People who need a bedside companion have usually been through a great deal already. We understand that in these moments it is less about expertise than about humanity — and our staff bring both.

Part of our bedside companion work we carry together with our non-profit partner association Leben Pflegen Reisen e.V. — above all where nursing competence needs to be joined by voluntary commitment and longer stretches of presence.

When a bedside companion makes sense

A bedside companion is more than a chair beside the bed. It protects, it calms, it prevents worse. Typical situations in which our clients call us:

After operations:: Postoperative confusion (delirium) is one of the most common complications in older patients. A familiar presence can lower the risk of delirium and support the course of recovery.
Where there is a risk of falling:: Someone who becomes restless at night, wants to get up, no longer knows where they are, is at risk of falling. A bedside companion watches, reassures, helps with getting up — and can prevent falls and the injuries that come with them, which can otherwise shape an entire phase of life.
In the dying phase:: When it is clear that the end is near, many families do not want their loved one to go alone. But not everyone can be at the bedside without a break. We take the night hours, the weekends, the stretches when you need a rest yourself.
In psychiatric crises:: Acute risk of harm to self or others, suicidal phases, severe depressive episodes. One-to-one care protects — and can in some cases help to avoid an involuntary admission.
With dementia:: Waking phases at night, the risk of wandering off, disorientation — a bedside companion brings calm to a situation that otherwise wears families down.

Where we provide bedside companions

We work across the whole of Berlin. Our base in Moabit (Stephanstraße 46) sits conveniently in the middle of the city — from here we reach Charlottenburg in ten minutes, Wilmersdorf in twelve, Zehlendorf in twenty-five.

We arrange bedside companions in:

Hospitals:: Charité (all sites), Vivantes hospitals, Schlosspark-Klinik, Sankt Gertrauden, DRK Kliniken, Lazarus, Helios and every other Berlin hospital.
Psychiatric clinics:: Vivantes Wenckebach, St. Hedwig, Schlosspark-Klinik and all acute and day clinics within the city.
Hospices and palliative care wards:: in close coordination with the team on site.
Care homes:: when families need relief, or when a particular situation calls for one-to-one care.
At home:: in familiar surroundings, with everything that makes a home your own.

What a bedside companion costs with us

Bedside companions are as a rule a private-pay service. Statutory long-term care insurance (Pflegekasse) does not cover them directly — in some cases respite care (Verhinderungspflege, § 39 SGB XI) or the relief allowance (Entlastungsbetrag, § 45b SGB XI) can be used, and we are glad to advise you on that.

We do not quote flat rates, because the situations differ too much. A night in hospital is calculated differently from a twelve-hour accompaniment at home. In the free first talk we establish what you need and what it will cost. Transparent supplements under § 3b EStG (25 % at night, 50 % on Sundays and public holidays) apply to every assignment.

What our bedside companions can do

Our team is mixed: registered nurses, nursing assistants, social workers, care staff with many years of psychiatric experience. Depending on the situation we deploy the appropriate qualification. What they all have in common:

Calm in demanding situations
The ability to observe and to document matter-of-factly
Experience with confusion, aggression and fear
Discretion — what is seen and heard in the home stays there

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a bedside companion and a nurse?
A bedside companion is present, observes, protects and reassures — but does not carry out nursing tasks such as repositioning, wound care or giving medication. Nurses do both; a bedside companion specialises in being there.
Can bedside companions come at night?
Yes. Overnight care is one of our most frequent requests. We arrive at the agreed time and stay until morning — if needed for several nights in succession, on a rota within a settled team.
How quickly is a bedside companion available?
In emergencies often within 24 hours, sometimes the same day. For assignments that can be planned further ahead (after an operation, for instance) we need only two to three days of notice.
Are the bedside companions professionally qualified?
We deploy different qualifications depending on the situation. In medically delicate situations a registered nurse comes. Where presence alone is required, an experienced care worker is often enough. We clarify this in the first talk.
Can we claim the bedside companion through the long-term care insurer?
Not directly — we invoice exclusively as a private-pay service. Where a care level (Pflegegrad) has been awarded you can, however, use the relief allowance (125 € per month) or respite care and submit our invoice yourself. We will advise you on what is possible.
Who is liable if something happens?
We carry professional indemnity insurance. Damage caused by our staff is settled through that policy.

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Free, without obligation, and unhurried. We listen first — then come back to you with a concrete proposal.

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