My friends father is suffering with a terminal illness. And the pallative team have asked him to go to a hospice for a few weeks, now is this just for respite or is this patient close to dying. My friend is really worried and is so scared. The doctor is not very communicative. Please help

You need to verify what the doctor actually said,

The normal Hospice program for for those that wish to die in peace, either at a hospice center or at home on a home hospice program.

And you don't go into a program for a few weeks, it is till you decide to leave it, or till you pass away.

When my dad got very bad, we put him in a hospice program from his last hospital visit when doctors said there was nothing else they could do.

What our program did, was to take him off any any medication that was keeping him alive or treating anything, and give him only medication and pain killers to keep him feeling OK. With no pain.

I also work with dozens of people on hospice at home, and most have a limited time left but wish to do so in peace and at home, they have hospice nurses that visit every day and normally some home health care people every day.

And yes if my doctor told me to go into hospice for a few weeks, I would be scared to death.

Perhaps he said, or meant "REHAB" for a few weeks.

You friend needs to talk directly to the doctor.

If hospice means something else in other areas but in the areas and with the people I deal with ( I am in the medical supply business) that is my understanding.

Next I am not a doctor or a nurse, so I could be completely wrong.

Where I work (at a major cancer research center here in the U.S.), patients are referred to hospice if their life expectancy is less than 6 months. Again, you should verify with the MD exactly what was said.