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Summary: Working with dogs in health care settings

Last quality assured: 06/11/2025

5-minute read

A dog at the bedside of a patient

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#Children and young people, #Community nursing, #Mental health, #Older people, #Public health

Dogs can play a valuable role in supporting people in health and social care environments. This summary explores how organisations can safely manage dogs in clinical settings, including hospitals, care homes, hospices and patient transport services

Who is this resource for?

This resource is aimed at nurses and nursing support workers across all settings and levels of practice, including students of health, social work and care professions.

Resource lead

Contact details for the resource lead:

C

Callum

Metcalfe-O'Shea

Professional Lead for Long-Term Conditions

Acknowledgements

Resource contents

Below is an interactive list of resource contents, clicking will navigate you to that resource page.

Dogs can play a valuable role in supporting people in health and social care environments. This summary explores how organisations can safely manage dogs in clinical settings, including hospitals, care homes, hospices and patient transport services

The RCN delivers quality-assured and up-to-date resources for the nursing workforce. Reviewed annually, RCN Learn resources meet the RCN Nine Quality Standards.

Resource last reviewed 06/11/2025

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Downloaded content date

PDF created on: 17 Apr 2026.

Downloaded from: https://rcnlearn.rcn.org.uk/Search/Summary-Working-with-Dogs-in-Health-Care-Settings.

Please check: https://rcnlearn.rcn.org.uk for a more up-to-date version of this content.

Last reviewed: 06/11/2025

Last quality assured: 06/11/2025

5-minute read