I love the idea of the bag being able to be fastened to the rail. With all of us having cellphones & chargers these days, it is amazing how hard it is to keep up with that in a hospital room. I am going to have to make one of those for our hospital stays. You are getting good ideas. When I am in the hospital, I appreciate different things. I like the old-fashioned wraps that cover your eyes so you can sleep when there's daylight out there. They are hard to find, especially the ones with the molded out area, so your eyelashes don't hit the cloth in the front. I use Vaseline on my lips and always need to take some with me. A new, cheap, pillow (think Walmart for 3 or 4 dollars) that will feel comfortable and an inexpensive colored pillow case to differentiate between the hospital ones & yours so you can take it home. I love to do puzzles - Sudoku, crosswords, word games but some people don't. A small notebook to make notes in, along with a pencil or pen that can be attached to the book.
I wish I had more ideas, but it is just hard to think of things that are mobile, small (and I know most of mine weren't), and something that people will like. I love the idea of the encouraging notes scattered about in the books. Post it notes would be really good. I would really appreciate that. If you can, have different people write and sign them. Some of them could be promissory notes. ie, will mow your yard while you are gone, will check your mail, will walk the dog when you get home....you get the idea.