My hope [is that there will be] a systematic approach to the delivery of palliative care services so that whenever anyone in Ontario is nearing the end of curative treatments, they will have a clear and easy pathway to the palliative supports they need.Valerie M., caregiver
The Ontario Palliative Care Network Action Plan 1: 2017–2020 presents a way forward for palliative care services in Ontario. It promotes collaboration and standardization across the regions.
Released in 2017, the 3-year plan guided our work together with our partners to make quality hospice palliative care services readily available and easy to access for people with life-limiting illness and their loved ones.
Our Priorities for 2021/2022
The work to improve palliative care in the province must continue even during a pandemic and while the health care system undergoes a significant transition.
To help bridge the gap between our action plan and the future state of palliative care, we consulted with regional and provincial partners to refine the Action Plan 1: 2017–2020.
Our focus through the pandemic is to support COVID-19 planning and management efforts.
We will continue to progress on the priority areas where possible, and use our tools and resources to support the COVID-19 response. The priorities for fiscal year 2021/2022 are as follows.
(See sidebar for downloadable version.)
Action Area A: Enhancing Patient and Caregiver Engagement in Hospice Palliative Care
A3. Hospice Palliative Care Ontario will continue to develop and update materials to support patients, caregivers, substitute decision-makers, and providers to engage in Person-Centred Decision-Making in alignment with Ontario’s legal landscape, and the quality standard for palliative care.
A4. Each Regional Palliative Care Network will work with local partners (i.e., hospice palliative care providers, Ontario Health Teams and others) to help patients and their caregivers understand the services that are available to meet their needs.
Action Area B: Aligning the Planning for Hospice Palliative Care Across the Province
B1. Each Regional Palliative Care Network will develop, submit to Executive Oversight, and regularly report on an annual work plan. The work plan will be aligned with the action plan to guide the regional implementation activities, ensure alignment with other regional and provincial work, and ensure engagement of the appropriate populations in planning and implementation.
B2. Each Regional Palliative Care Network will engage with First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and urban Indigenous communities and organizations to jointly identify gaps in hospice palliative care and develop culturally safe recommendations to inform future annual work plans.
B3. The Ontario Palliative Care Network will engage and plan with First Nations, Inuit, Métis and urban Indigenous communities and organizations to jointly identify gaps in hospice palliative care and make recommendations to inform future annual work plans and ensure alignment with the action plan.
B4. Each Regional Palliative Care Network will engage with Francophones in an equitable manner to identify gaps in hospice palliative care and develop recommendations to inform future annual work plans.
B6. Each Regional Palliative Care Network will identify vulnerable populations within its catchment area (e.g., pediatric and homeless populations) and engage them and their families/caregivers to identify gaps in hospice palliative care to inform future annual work plans.
B8. The Ontario Palliative Care Network Secretariat will develop an annual provincial work plan aligned with the action plan to guide the provincially focused activities.
Action Area C: Enabling Early Identification of People Who Would Benefit From Hospice Palliative Care
C7. The Data and Information Advisory Council and Clinical Advisory Council will work with digital health delivery organizations to leverage digital health solutions to support earlier identification of people who would benefit from palliative care.
Action Area D: Establishing Palliative Models of Care to Increase Access and Enable Adoption of the Quality Standard
D3. The Ontario Palliative Care Network will plan for the development of new funding mechanisms to support palliative care delivery in Ontario, and will provide future recommendations to the Ministry of Health and appropriate professional bodies.
D4. Each Regional Palliative Care Network will work with local partners (i.e., hospice palliative care providers, Ontario Health Teams and others) to plan for and implement the Palliative Care Health Services Delivery Framework recommendations.
Action Area E. Identifying and Connecting Hospice Palliative Care Providers
E3. The Ontario Palliative Care Network Secretariat will work with the Ontario e-Consult Program and the Ontario Telemedicine Network to increase the use of the provincial eConsult platform and virtual visits to improve access to palliative care.
Action Area F: Building Provider Competencies in Hospice Palliative Care
F5. Each Regional Palliative Care Network will develop and incorporate in their regional work plan, educational strategies that focus on building palliative care competencies among health care providers.
F6. The Ontario Palliative Care Network Secretariat will work with stakeholders to encourage uptake and implementation of the Ontario Palliative Care Competency Framework.
Action Area G: Measuring and Reporting on our Progress
G1. The Data and Information Advisory Council will develop provincial and regional measures and reports that will support planning and quality improvement and measure the impact of implementing the action plan. Progress at the provincial level will be reported to Ontario Palliative Care Network stakeholders.
G2. Each Regional Palliative Care Network will incorporate the findings of these reports as they develop their annual work plans.
Statement of Information Practices Related to This Action Plan
The Ontario Palliative Care Network is subject to CCO’s Statement of Information Practices because data used to support this action plan comes from an Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) data repository that contains personal health information (PHI). We use this data to enable performance management and quality improvement, and report on how the implementation of the Ontario Palliative Care Network Action Plan impacts hospice palliative care in the province.