Can I receive Communion in hospital?

Usually yes, but almost nowhere will offer it unless you ask.

A priest, a deacon, or a properly appointed extraordinary minister of Holy Communion can bring Communion to your room. The Ethical and Religious Directives specifically envisage trained lay Catholics visiting patients, advising them about the availability of a priest for confession, and distributing Communion to those who request it.

In most hospitals this happens on a round, often daily or several times a week. Ask the spiritual care or chaplaincy office which days the minister comes to your floor, and ask to be added to the list. The list is usually what determines whether anyone knocks on your door.

Two things to check first. The usual period of fasting before Communion is relaxed for people who are ill, so being on continuous feeds or having eaten recently is not a reason to decline. And if you are nil by mouth, on a modified diet, or have mouth sores or a swallowing problem, ask your nurse before receiving, because that is a clinical question rather than a religious one.

Where receiving is not possible, a spiritual communion, which is simply a prayer expressing the desire, is a long-standing practice.