That’s an increase of 6% compared to 2016-2017, driven by community care. As the population ages, the need for home and community care increases and most would prefer to die at home if they’re supported in the appropriate ways. CIHI found:
- Among those who received palliative care, 61% were in hospital, while 36% received palliative home care;
- Younger seniors - between 65 to 84 at time of death - were the group most likely to receive palliative care. Those 85 and older who died were less likely to receive palliative care than younger people; and
- Cancer patients were the most likely to be identified as palliative in the last year of life (77%), while those with dementia were the least likely (39%).
CIHI considers location as one of the biggest challenges to accessing palliative care, as people in rural areas are more often admitted to the hospital for such services. Another factor is disease course - those with cancer are more likely to be identified as requiring palliative care than those with dementia because the trajectory of someone with dementia could be a long time. Another important piece to the conversation is medical assistance in dying. CIHI believes it’s critical that people don’t choose MAID because they can't access palliative care.
Related:
Les soins offerts dans la collectivité entraînent de légères améliorations dans l’accès des Canadiens aux soins palliatifs - ICIS