What is hospice palliative care?

Hospice palliative care is a philosophy of care and services which help relieve suffering and improve quality of life for people with a life-limiting illness, or grieving a loved one.  Hospice palliative care:

• Does not hasten or delay death.
• Improves the quality life by offering comfort and dignity.
• Offers comfort, emotional and spiritual supports to the person and family. 
• Allows people to continue receiving treatments that slow the progress of the disease and reduce uncomfortable symptoms.

Hospice palliative care is about access to the best possible quality of life during a difficult time. People who choose hospice palliative care have made the decision with their doctor and family to move away from getting better to palliative, or comfort care. Medical intervention is for symptom management, including pain control. No one should have to suffer through an illness or die alone or in pain.

Many people mistakenly associate hospice palliative care only with sorrow. However, most people’s experiences include times of joy, peace and heart-warming closeness. People often comment that hospice experiences, although involving a death, give them a deeper understanding of life.

Making a transition to hospice palliative care can be difficult. Patients and their families may have spent many months or years concentrating on a cure. Hospice palliative care becomes appropriate when the treatment no longer supports quality of life.

What is the difference between palliative care and hospice care?

In Canada, we tend to use both terms to refer to a specific approach to care for people who are terminally ill. The patient, the family and the family physician always play an important role in hospice palliative care.

Our Mission

To be a leader in promoting, developing and delivering skilled, compassionate and cost-effective end-of-life care.  Hospice palliative care service takes direction from the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association's norms of practice (2002), which state:

"Hospice palliative care aims to relieve suffering and improve the quality of living and dying."

Contact us
The links below will take you to a services directory listing, which includes descriptions, contact details and related documents for our services.