Pallium Canada Welcomes Health Canada's Action Plan on Palliative Care

OTTAWA, Aug. 28, 2019 /CNW/ - Pallium Canada welcomes the release of Health Canada's Action Plan on Palliative Care: Building on the Framework on Palliative Care in Canada. The Action Plan lays out Health Canada's five-year plan to tackle issues uncovered through the development of the Framework on Palliative Care in Canada. It includes specific activities to enhance access, quality of care, and health care system performance, within the federal government's mandate and levers for action.

"The Action Plan outlines best practices that Pallium has championed for many years such as a focus on supporting both the health care system and the communities in which we live in order to provide better palliative care to Canadians" said Pallium's Chief Executive Officer, Jeffrey Moat. "Pallium is a critical partner to bringing the Action Plan to life in a number of ways, including building the capacity of health care professionals to be able to provide a palliative care approach, especially for underserved populations and accelerating the uptake of the Compassionate Communities model across Canada," Moat added.

Throughout the development of the Framework, Pallium took an active leadership role from appearing before the House of Commons and Senate Health Committees when Bill C277 An Act to Establish a Palliative Care Framework was before Parliament, to on-going consultations with Health Canada identifying the essential features needed in a successful framework.

Health Canada will oversee and coordinate the implementation of the Action Plan, connecting governments and stakeholders and serving as a knowledge centre to share best practices. "The Action Plan is certainly a step in the right direction, but like any blueprint, the implementation—with measurable outcomes for Canadians—is the bottom line," said Moat. He added that "Funding the Action Plan is key going forward, and we want to help ensure that the government succeeds in playing a strong leadership role promoting palliative care innovation across the country through its stakeholder groups."

Pallium applauds Health Canada for the public awareness components of the Action Plan as "Public education will help deepen a national understanding of what a palliative care approach has to offer Canadians," said Moat. "We look forward to the government's next steps which recognize the value of implementing a Compassionate Community approach. Pallium takes pride in being among the first to adopt and promote the Compassionate Community theory of practice here in Canada. It is a powerful model and one we hope to continue to formalize with community partners across the country moving forward," Moat stated.

About Pallium Canada
Pallium is a national, evidence-based organization focused on building professional and community capacity to help improve the quality and accessibility of palliative care in Canada.

SOURCE Pallium Canada

For further information: Robyn Levy, Manager, Marketing and Communications, Pallium Canada, [e-mail] or 613-562-6262 ext. 1747