Canadian Atlas of Palliative Care – Ontario Edition

Mapping the Present – Shaping the Future

Pallium Canada has officially launched the Palliative Care Atlas for Ontario. This innovative resource aims to offer an unparalleled overview of palliative care services across the province, sharing critical data to both the Ontario government and health policymakers.

Currently, no mechanism exists to consolidate nationwide data on palliative care service availability. As such, significant variations exist across Canada in many areas of palliative care, from team access to service integration and education.

The solution

Pallium Canada is leading the development of a Canadian Atlas of Palliative Care – Ontario Edition, which aims to map out the current state of palliative care service availability in Ontario, including existing strengths, areas of excellence, and gaps. This research will then be translated into powerful and visual user-friendly tools that will help to improve the availability of palliative care in Ontario.

The Ontario Edition of the Canadian Atlas will be part of the larger Atlas being developed for the whole country and aligns seamlessly with Ontario’s Palliative Care Health Services Delivery Framework and the Ontario Palliative Care Network’s goal for universally accessible care.

Pallium Canada has now completed its Pilot Study. Work is already underway in British Columbia and Alberta and the organization is now intensifying its efforts in Ontario to map services across the six new Ontario health regions. The complete Palliative Care Atlas for Ontario will be released in spring 2024.

NEW - Pilot Study: Central East - Ontario Subregion

The completed pilot study mapping the current state of palliative care in the Central East subregion in Ontario provides a tangible preview of the Canadian Atlas’s transformative potential. More than an assessment, it’s a catalyst for a future where universal, quality end-of-life care becomes a reality.

The impact

The Atlas will serve as a catalyst for change, helping funders, policymakers, the media, health care analysts, health care planners, educators and the community improve their understanding of palliative care systems and forms the foundation for ongoing efforts to ultimately provide timelier, more effective, and compassionate palliative care.

An Atlas is a powerful graphical representation and textual description of the current state of palliative care in a jurisdiction. Atlases have been developed for Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and South America over the last decade and are powerful tools to highlight excellence and to identify opportunities for improvement.

Far too many individuals still lack timely access to palliative care, and for those who do, it often comes very late, only in the final days and weeks of life. With the Palliative Care Atlas, we aim to equip policymakers, administrators, and healthcare leaders with a foundational assessment of palliative care's current status across health regions. This is a crucial step towards informed decision-making for the integration and advancement of palliative care within our healthcare systems.

The absence of a singular reporting source or comprehensive data repository has left a significant gap in our understanding of palliative care in Canada. Pallium Canada and Cardus’ initiative to develop the Palliative Care Atlas for Ontario is a critical step towards mapping access to palliative care services across different care settings and patient populations. This work is not only necessary but pivotal for enhancing the delivery of palliative care across the province.

Accurate data is the cornerstone of effective decision-making. This tool will inform the Ontario government and enable them to ensure they meet their commitments, ensuring that every Ontarian who needs palliative care has better access to high-quality services.

Building a national palliative care Atlas

The Dr. Joshua Shadd — Pallium Canada Research Hub is leading the development of a Canadian Palliative Care Atlas to map out existing strengths, areas of excellence, and gaps across regions and provinces with respect to palliative care service availability. The Atlas will showcase a graphical representation of the status of palliative care in Canada and serve to advance a systems-thinking approach to health care by identifying several benchmarks of excellence and leadership.

Funding

This pilot study was made possible through financial contribution from the PSI Foundation.

Thank you to Esri Canada for their expertise in mapping and location intelligence.