Network Goals
1. Promote quality in hospice palliative care services through the recommendation and advancement of accepted standards and best practices, education and innovation.
2. Advance accountability through measurement and evaluation of the regional hospice palliative care system.
3. Provide leadership and structure in the provision of hospice palliative care services through the collaboration and cooperation of hospice palliative care providers and organizations from a variety of disciplines and care settings.
4. Advise on and influence policy in hospice palliative care.
5. Raise public awareness of hospice palliative care services and the regional system.
6. Embrace and promote individualized, family-centered service delivery.

Values and Guiding Principles
1. Diversity provides richness and must be valued.
2. Hospice palliative care services must be delivered with sensitivity and compassion to meet the unique needs of each individual client and their families.
3. Quality hospice/palliative services must be delivered by skilled knowledgeable and qualified staff and volunteers.
4. Community partnership and collaboration must exist to support and enhance service delivery.
5. Available resources will be used wisely and creatively.
6. TCPCN leadership will foster the development of hospice palliative care.

TCPCN Structure

To view a larger version of the TCPCN structure, please click here.


The TCPCN strategic plan for 2009-2012 can be downloaded here (PDF format, 929K).
The TCPCN annual report for 2008-2009 can be downloaded here (PDF format, 3378K).

Who We Are
The TCPCN is a network comprised of health-care members, from across the palliative Care continuum, who share a common vision:
Members come from the acute care, long-term care, community support services and chronic disease agencies, including world- renowned organizations. They include all the Toronto region hospitals and hospices, Toronto Central CCAC, and other community service providers and health agencies. The network is partly supported by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and its members.

History of TCPCN
The Toronto Palliative Care Network (TPCN) emerged from recommendations made in the 1999 Toronto District Health Council (TDHC) report, after the Ministry asked TDHC to initiate a Regional Palliative Care System Committee in November 2000. As first steps, the TDHC hosted two large palliative care stakeholder meetings in January 2001 and June 2001, which generated a strategic planning process that took place in October 2003. The Network’s direction is to foster formal partnerships and ongoing collaboration to establish an integrated and coordinated model of care. In 2001 the TPCN established a paid membership base to support the collaboration and coordination of the Network and to respond to the growing need for a coordinated and integrated system of hospice palliative care services. The Steering Committee membership participated in the strategic planning process and was mandated to implement the recommendations. The Steering Committee established a hiring committee and the first Executive Director was hired in March 2004. A formal structure and governance model for TPCN was presented and formally adopted in April 2004. However, with the creation of Local Health Integration Networks, the TCPN reorganized and realigned with the TC LHIN boundary. To reflect this realignment, TPCN changed its name to the Toronto Central Palliative Care Network in 2006. To date, the Network has continued to evolve to reflect the emerging issues within the region.