End-of-life Hospice Care for Cancer Patients

It is estimated that every day 500 Canadians are diagnosed with cancer, which proves fatal for 200 people.[i] And the number of cancer deaths is expected to increase in the coming years as the Canadian population ages.[ii] The reports main findings include:

1. Nearly half (45%) of cancer deaths occur in acute care hospitals.
2. The number of patients who die in acute care can be significantly reduced as many patients were admitted to acute care to meet palliative care needs.
3. A large percentage of study participants were admitted to acute care multiple times or visited the emergency room at least once.
4. Largely, overly aggressive treatments, like chemotherapy, were not administered in acute care settings and most patients were given a palliative care diagnosis.

This report has garnered significant media interest since its release at the end of April. Please find an overview of media pickup below.

• Work needed to improve end-of-life care, report suggests, Andre Picard, The Globe and Mail
• Many terminal cancer patients want more end-of-life options: study, CTV News
• Half of terminal cancer patients die in hospital, report says, CBC News
• Hospital last place most want to die, but almost half of cancer patients do, report finds, The Vancouver Sun
• About 45% of cancer deaths are in hospital, The Calgary Herald

To view the original report, please click here.