NIAGARA — As part of its plan to stay open, the Ontario government is investing $4 million to expand Hospice Niagara by adding two new Hospice Palliative Care Centres of Excellence in Welland and Fort Erie. This investment will support the planning and construction of the two centres that will add 20 new hospice beds for all of Niagara. This will increase access to compassionate, high-quality palliative care for families in the Niagara region as the province continues to build a stronger, more resilient health care system that is better prepared to respond to crisis.
“Expanding Hospice Niagara by building two new hospice palliative care centres is another way our government is building a stronger, more resilient health care system that is focused on the needs of patients,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “This funding will provide more people with end-of-life care in a comfortable home-like space close to their loved ones and ensure that they receive the respect, dignity and care they deserve.”
Hospice Niagara currently operates 10 hospice beds out of its St. Catharines site. The two new hospice palliative care centres will add 20 new hospice beds, bringing the total number of hospice beds operated by Hospice Niagara to 30 for all of Niagara. These beds will help to ensure that people and their loved ones receive compassionate end-of-life care and support closer to home during one of the most difficult times in life.
Once open, the province will provide an additional $2.1 million annually in operational funding to support end-of-life care services for more than 500 people per year at the two new centres. This funding is in addition to the nearly $1 million provided annually to support end-of-life care at Hospice Niagara’s existing site in St. Catharines.
“In our lifetime, we all experience death, dying, grief and loss,” said Carol Nagy, Executive Director of Hospice Niagara. “Increasing capacity in hospice palliative care ensures that every person receives the high-quality of care they expect and deserve, for generations to come.”
The hospice sector is crucial to Ontario’s strategy to build a stronger, more resilient health system centered around the needs of patients, as it provides people and caregivers with additional options for end-of-life care outside of hospitals.
“Having introduced and seen the passage of the Compassionate Care Act, I have long been a passionate advocate of hospice care in Niagara and across the province,” said Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West. “This new support reaffirms our government’s commitment to high-quality palliative care in our region and the extraordinary work of the leadership and frontline team at Hospice Niagara.”
Quick Facts
- Hospice Niagara helps people live well from the time of diagnosis with a terminal illness, at end of life and while grieving a death. This specialized care is provided with compassion and dignity by a team of professionals in homes and the hospice residence, free of cost.
- To help ensure Ontario’s hospices can continue to deliver high-quality end-of-life services and care to patients and families, the Ontario government invested an additional $23 million last year to support hospice residences across the province. This funding was used to address additional costs associated with COVID-19, including the procurement of personal protective equipment and the hiring of additional health care workers, and is in addition to the province’s annual investment of over $74 million in palliative care.
- The government is investing over $40 million to add more than 200 beds in hospice residences across the province. Once these beds are open, the province will provide over $23 million in annual operational funding to support care for over 7,000 patients every year.
- With the passage of the Compassionate Care Act, 2020, Ontario is continuing to improve equitable access to high-quality, palliative care for individuals, families and caregivers in all regions of Ontario. In December 2021, Ontario released the Provincial Framework for Palliative Care as a tool to help provide better, connected care across the province, and guide future work to ensure that all Ontarians receive the respect, dignity and care they deserve at every stage of life and across the continuum of care.
- The province has increased its dedicated investments in hospice expansion and palliative care quality improvement initiatives from $67 million in 2018 to over $74 million in 2021.
Source Province of Ontario
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