PRIORITIES

HOME-BASED PALLIATIVE CARE

Increasing access to high-quality palliative care at home for all Canadians is a priority for the CHCA. By understanding gaps, challenges and opportunities, we are working to improve the quality, efficiency and accessibility of home-based palliative care. Engaging patients, caregivers, healthcare providers and policymakers, the CHCA is introducing new ways to enhance frontline providers’ skills, knowledge and attitudes, improve patient and caregiver satisfaction and facilitate the spread and scale of innovative models across the country.

News

National Workshop Showcases Collaborative Progress in Palliative Care

April 1, 2025

The Canadian Home Care Association (CHCA) and McMaster University’s The Waiting Room Revolution co-hosted a national knowledge translation event, showcasing the culmination of two Health Canada-funded initiatives—the CHCA’s eiCOMPASS Project and McMaster’s The Seven Keys Roadmap. News Release.

Government of Canada Announces more than $2.1 Million To Improve Home-Based Palliative Care

September 27, 2023

The Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, announced more than $2.1 million in funding over three years to the Canadian Home Care Association (CHCA) to improve the quality of home-based palliative care through the eiCOMPASS project. Learn More 

Quick Facts

Canadians would prefer to die at home but in 2021–2022 only 13% of those who died did so at home supported by palliative home care. The Way Forward, Harris/Decima survey, 2013. (CIHI, 2023)

Patients receiving home-based palliative care were more likely to die at home (66%) compared to those without (39%). (CIHI, 2018)  (CIHI, 2018)

The demand for palliative care is expected to double by 2036 as Canada’s population ages. (Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians. 2020)

Improvements in home-based palliative care by disseminating knowledge and expanding leading practices and skill acquisition in a key priority in the Federal Action Plan on Palliative Care


In palliative care, emotional intelligence is as important as medical knowledge. (Dr. Atul Gawande, author of Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End)

Empathy, a key component of emotional intelligence, is the heart and soul of palliative care.  (Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the hospice movement)

TOOLS AND RESOURCES

Framework on Palliative Care in Canada ACT

In December 2017, Parliament passed into law An Act providing for the development of a framework on palliative care in Canada. The Act required the Minister of Health to conduct consultations with P/Ts and palliative care providers, to inform the development of a framework. Download the ACT

Palliative Care in Canada Action Plan

Recognizing the dynamic state of palliative care in Canada, the purpose of the Framework is to provide a tool for all parties with a responsibility for palliative care, to help shape decision making, organizational change, and planning within the current context. Access the Framework

Advance Care Planning in Canada

This national campaign includes tools and information to encourage advance care planning as a process and help Canadians think about and share their wishes for future health and personal care. Visit the website 

Developing Competency-Based, Emotionally Intuitive Palliative Care Skills for Home Care Providers and Caregivers

A report on the eiCOMPASS Project — a national initiative aimed at enhancing the delivery of home-based palliative care by embedding core competencies and emotional intelligence (EI) into the education and practice of home care providers. Download the Final Report

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Established in 1990, the Canadian Home Care Association (CHCA) is a national non-profit membership association dedicated to advancing excellence in home and community care.

National Office: 905-567-7373     |    General Inquiries: chca@cdnhomecare.ca

2000 Argentia Road, Plaza 3, Suite 302. Mississauga, Ontario, L5N 1W1

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This post is also available in: French