The family has a significant role in the hospital and should be an integral part of the care, so this study aimed to understand the accompanying family members' perception regarding nursing care provided to the elderly hospitalized in the Unified Health System (SUS) In the medical clinic of a hospital in the municipality of Maringá-Paraná. This is a descriptive and exploratory study, with a qualitative approach. The data collection was done with eleven relatives of elderly people hospitalized in this establishment through interviews with semi-structured script, with open questions about nursing care provided to the elderly. The interviews were recorded and transcribed in their entirety and later submitted to Bardin's Content Analysis, which consists of three distinct phases: pre-analysis, material exploration, treatment of results, inference and interpretation. From the analysis, two thematic categories emerged: "The companion to the hospitalization process" and "The companion and the nursing care". There was a greater proportion of women as companions, and signs of overload due to the fact that the responsibility for care fell on one person. The companions demonstrated satisfaction with the nursing care offered, highlighting several positive points. The results of the present study may contribute to nursing practice, leading to a reflection about the care provided to the elderly, favoring the family / patient / nursing relationship, and the family is a co-participant in the care.