I was delighted, absolutely delighted this morning when I was reading Le Droit and came across the article entitled ‘Bolduc veut de meilleurs soins palliatifs’. In Shakespeare’s language, Bolduc wants better palliative care services.
On the first day of hearings of the Quebec National Assembly’s Commission on Euthanasia, Minister of Health and Social Services Yves Bolduc reportedly shared at a press conference that citizens need to get involved with the development of a province-wide network of palliative care homes.
Minister Bolduc also noted that the ‘dying with dignity’ discussion includes much more than euthanasia and that we should be cautious not to confuse the need for palliative care with euthanasia. He closed by saying that regardless of the outcome of the Commission, palliative care services need to be improved.
I couldn’t agree more.
Since the Senate Reports of 1995 and 2000 addressing end-of-life and palliative care in Canada, public awareness of this issue has grown. There are increasing numbers of individuals and organizations that volunteer their time to provide palliative care services in their neighbourhoods, communities and cities. Further, the federal government strengthened the caregiver benefits available through Employment Insurance. So while we have witnessed some success in recent years, much more needs to be done in order to care for those Canadians who will die from chronic and terminal illnesses.
Across Canada, there is patchwork of end of life and palliative care services available. Rural and urban disparities also exist. There is inconsistency from city to city and province to province. There is a clearly demonstrated need for consistently available high quality care in this area.
Senator Sharon Carstairs writes in her 2005 document Still Not There that “most of those working in the field still estimate that no more than 15% of Canadians have access to hospice palliative care. For children, that figure falls to 3.3%…” Current end of life care tends to centre around cancer patients, leaving the vast number of patients dying from other ailments with care which is not attuned to their unique medical needs.
Presently, palliative and end of life care is on the periphery of healthcare services in Canada. An aging population means that doctors and nurses will be increasingly faced with end of life issues. We need better, consistent end of life and palliative care in Canada.
One major step towards such a goal is sustainable, predictable funding for this cause by appropriate government departments and agencies.
Another is the rallying of community, family and volunteer support.
Together we can ensure that dying patients have respect, love and compassion in their last days, and that they are cared for by doctors and nurses specially trained for their care, until the day of their natural death.