What is Hospice Palliative Care?

Quality hospice palliative care strives to help patients and their families:

• Address physical, psychological, social, spiritual and practices issues, and their associated expectations, needs, hopes and fears;
• Prepare for and manage self-determined life closure and the dying process; and
• Cope with loss and grief during the illness and bereavement.

(Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association.  (2002)

You can be assured that services do exist to meet your hospice palliative care needs in the Toronto Central region.

How Can You Access Services?

Accessing hospice palliative care services in this region is not complicated.
In the Toronto region, hospice palliative care can be provided in four care settings:

• Services can be provided in the home setting.  There are several types of organizations that provide hospice palliative care services in this care setting:

• Home/Community Settings are community volunteer hospices that provide a spectrum of services through trained volunteers and healthcare professionals for patients, caregivers, and their families.
• Visiting Physician Programs provide palliative physician services to patients in their home.
• Community Care Access Centres support the provision of nursing, personal support worker, and other relevant services.
• Services can be provided in a residential hospice (a residential hospice is a facility that offers up a hospice palliative care bed in a free standing facility dedicated to hospice palliative care)
• Services can be provided in a palliative care unit within a hospital; and
• Services can be provided in long term care home.

If you think you can benefit from hospice palliative care services, you will need to decide which care setting you want to receive care in.  You should engage in a conversation with your family, health care provider (your family physician and others), and other important individuals in your life to discuss this.  However, any decisions you make now can be changed.

In the Toronto region there are a number of organizations who are primary hospice palliative care services providers. You may contact hospice palliative care organizations directly or request your health care provider (if you have one) to contact these organizations directly for assistance and details.

Community Care Access Centres

• Community Care Access Centres

Community Volunteer Hospice Programs

• Alliance Hospice
• Circle of Care
• Hazel Burns Hospice
• Hospice Toronto
• Jewish Family & Child Services of Toronto: Jewish Hospice Program
• Philip Aziz Centre
• The Dorothy Ley Hospice

Residental Hospice Programs

• Casey House Hospice
• Perram House
• The Dorothy Ley Hospice

Community Visiting Physician Programs

• St. Joseph's Health Centre
• The Temmy Latner Centre For Palliative Care
• Toronto Grace Hospital

Hospital - Palliative Care Units

• Baycrest
• Bridgepoint Health
• Providence Healthcare
• St. Michael's Hospital
• Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
• The Hospital for Sick Children
• Toronto East General Hospital
• Toronto Grace Health Centre
• Toronto Rehabilitation Institute
• Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
• University Health Network (PMH)

Long-Term Care Homes

• City of Toronto Long-Term Care Homes & Services
• Kensington Health Centre

ASSET MAP

The following document is a listing of both core and indirect hospice palliative care service providers within the Toronto Central Palliative Care Network. The document will provide information on the types of services available in the community, hospital and residential hospice settings.  Some information for long term care providers who are a member of the Network is also provided. You will find information regarding admissions criteria, types of services provided, access to services, clientele population, and capacity, to name a few.

To download a copy of our Asset Map (in PDF format), please click here. Please print on legal sized paper for optimal results.

To download a copy of our Asset Map (in Excel format), please click here.