Manitoba must do more to track and reduce wait times for palliative home care, says a major national study being released today.
It's estimated that in just over 30 years, more than 750,000 Canadians will need palliative home care, says Hospice Palliative Home Care in Canada: A Progress Report, released today by the Quality End-of-Life Care Coalition of Canada (QELCCC).
The report says that 63 per cent of Canadians who are dying do not have access to adequate hospice palliative care.
Even though the coalition says there is a growing trend toward Canadians wanting to die at home, 60 per cent of deaths in Canada occur in hospitals --- often to gain access to the medications they need with no financial burden for their families.
The coalition says that Manitoba has made significant progress in nursing and personal care, as it is one of six jurisdictions that has policies for 24/7 access to these services.
But the national study also says that Manitoba has fallen short in wait time management, as it does not track wait times for palliative home care.
The coalition says that more must be done to give Canadians access to palliative care in other settings where they die, such as hospitals, long-term care homes, residential hospices and to those that are homeless.
At best, no more than 37 per cent of Canadians dying in all settings receive the kind of comprehensive, coordinated palliative care that improves quality of life at the end-of-life, says the study.
Hospice and Palliative Care Manitoba says that more resources are needed to ensure that throughout all parts of the province, people who would prefer to spend their last days at home receive the support and services they need.
The study says: Manitoba has a standard process to assess the palliative home-care needs of patients.
There are no policies in place in Manitoba for access to round-the-clock case management.
Manitoba indicates that 100 per cent of people dying at home have access to nursing and personal care pharmaceuticals.
Any Manitoba patient enrolled in the palliative home-care program or end-of-life program is eligible for drug coverage.
Palliative home-care teams in Manitoba have timely access to hospital and community pharmacists.
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