National Hospice Palliative Care Week 

Many people in Canada, along with their caregivers and families, still face significant barriers to accessing a palliative approach to care. These barriers can be linked to age, where they live, their diagnosis, race or ethnicity, unstable housing, and other factors. Too often, people are unable to access palliative care early enough in their illness to fully benefit from the support it offers.

High-quality, comprehensive palliative care supports every part of a person’s life affected by serious illness. This includes respite for caregivers and loved ones, mental health and spiritual support, and a focus on comfort, dignity, and quality of life. It is holistic care that supports the mind, body, spirit, and family, when and where it is needed most.

Every family facing the challenges of a life-limiting illness deserves the best possible care and support. Whether in hospice, at home, in long-term care, or in hospital, palliative care can and should be available in any setting to meet individual needs.

What is Palliative Care?

When Should I think about Palliative Care?

Where Can I find Palliative Care?

In the Blueprint for Action 2025-2030, the Palliative Care Coalition of Canada  have identified 4 priorities that must be addressed to ensure more people in Canada have access to a palliative approach to care:

1. Engaged, Informed Public: The palliative approach to care for people who are aging or living with serious illness will not be a priority in our health and social service systems until it is a priority for everyone in Canada.
2. Skilled, Supported Care Providers: To give more people in Canada access to high-quality, culturally safer palliative approaches to care, our health system needs a wide range of people – health and social service providers, caregivers and volunteers – who have the knowledge, skills and competencies to provide that kind of care. It also needs the capacity to train and support those providers and caregivers.
3. Knowledge to Improve Quality of Care and Life: To support the system-wide implementation of a palliative approach to care, we need stronger evidence and a more robust data infrastructure.
4. Equitable Access to High Quality Palliative Care for All: Everyone in Canada who is aging or living with serious illness and their loved ones should be able to access culturally safer palliative care – including support with grief and bereavement – regardless of their age, diagnosis or the setting where they choose to receive care.

“It has been one year since my mother passed away, and only now do I feel emotionally able to share the devastating experience of her final days. My family and I were unprepared for the lack of coordination, communication, and adequate support from the palliative care system, which left us traumatized during an already unbearable time. While we are deeply grateful for the compassion shown by some individuals, the systemic gaps we encountered must be addressed to prevent others from enduring similar anguish.”

Laura E.

“My husband, Michael, had a complex cancer and end-of-life journey. Because of the complex pain, he was under the care of the hospital palliative team as an outpatient for 16 months while also undergoing cancer treatments and as an inpatient for a further five months. Michael became paralyzed from the ribs down (still with pain) for the final four months of his life and died in hospital, but never in a hospice bed, because there were/are only ten hospice beds available in our catchment area of 500,000 people.”

Christine F.