Generous chap who visits everyone in hospital much appreciated (5)
I believe the answer is:
santa
'generous chap who visits everyone' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'hospital much appreciated' is the wordplay.
'hospital' becomes 'san' (short for sanatorium).
'much appreciated' becomes 'ta' (both are ways of saying thank you).
'san'+'ta'='SANTA'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for santa that I've seen before include "Dec's visitor?" , "-- Barbara" , "generous figure" , "distributer of goodies" , "Midwinter gift bringer" .)