QUESTION PERIOD — Health
Palliative Care
May 10, 2023
My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.
Senator Gold, this week is National Hospice Palliative Care Week. New data released from the Canadian Institute for Health Information showed that nearly 200,000 Canadians receive palliative care annually. Sadly, we do not know what qualifies as palliative care as there are no real standards in place. In December 2018, the federal government tabled a Framework on Palliative Care in Canada to work toward clarity in this regard. Recently, Senator Black, Senator Boehm and I spent time with leaders in the Waterloo region to further discuss this framework. The framework requires the federal government to report on the state of palliative care in Canada within five years of its release, meaning that the report is due by the end of 2023.
My question is: Is the government committed to this mandated review to better ensure that Canadians across the country can have access to equal and appropriate palliative care services? If so, when will we see this review?
Thank you very much for the question. It’s an important one.
I can’t answer the specific question you asked at the end but I will underline that it is the position of this government that Canadians experiencing serious illness or facing end of life deserve to receive care in the setting of their choice in comfort and dignity.
In that regard, the federal government has collaborated with provinces, territories, health care providers and stakeholders to develop the framework and to implement an action plan on palliative care, and this has carried with it, as you would know, serious investments: $24 million from 2019 to 2021 and $29.8 million from 2021 to 2027. This complements the federal support that exceeds $8 billion over 10 years to provinces and territories for home and community care, including palliative care.
You referred to the framework. The Action Plan on Palliative Care lays out the multi-year plan of Health Canada to tackle the issues identified in the framework. This is also part of the ongoing investments Health Canada has made, including during the pandemic, to fund some of these initiatives. The government will continue to work in this area with provinces, territories and health care providers to provide and to improve access to home, community and palliative care. With regard to the specific dates, I will have to make inquiries.
Thank you for that. I hope and look forward to the Senate knowing the specifics of when this review unfolds so we can be accountable at the table in conversations with our various communities.
