The Government of Canada is committed to improving the quality and availability of palliative care for all people in Canada. Budget 2021 provided nearly $30 million to help advance the Government’s Action Plan on Palliative Care and build a better foundation for coordinated action on long-term and supportive care needs.
Today, on behalf of Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, Élisabeth Brière, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, along with Francis Scarpaleggia, Member of Parliament for Lac-Saint-Louis, announced $2 million in funding over 4 years to Healthcare Excellence Canada (HEC) to improve access to palliative care for persons who are homeless or vulnerably housed.
This funding will allow HEC, working with partner organizations such as the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC), to help improve the delivery of palliative care services so that people experiencing homelessness or who are vulnerably housed receive safe, timely, appropriate care in the place of their choosing. Hospice palliative care is a critical part of the health care continuum, improving quality of life for as long as possible. Care is provided wherever the person is, be it in a facility or in their community.
The Government of Canada continues to work with provinces and territories, people living with life-limiting illness, caregivers, stakeholders, and communities to improve the quality and availability of palliative care for everyone in Canada, including those who are most vulnerable.
Quick facts
- Health Canada provides $128.6 million over five years (2021-22 to 2025-26) to HEC to work with partners to improve patient safety and health care quality by finding and promoting innovators and innovations; driving rapid adoption and spread of quality and safety innovations; building capabilities to enable excellence in health care; and, catalyzing policy change.
- Health Canada’s Action Plan on Palliative Care is a multiyear plan to help improve access to and quality of palliative care.
- Both HEC and CPAC are part of the Pan-Canadian Health Organizations (PCHOs). The PCHOs are a network of seven independent organizations, established to operate at arm’s length from government in specific areas of health and health care policy.