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Ministry of Health provides $1.4 million Click here to download the program brochure The Palliative Care Network for York Region (PalCare Network) has partnered with the Ministry of Health & Long Term Care on a demonstration project to address the palliative care needs of both primary health care providers and palliative care patients in York Region. This 18-month demonstration project began officially on November 1, 2004 and is being funded completely by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. The $1.4 million dollars that was given to PalCare Network for this project will be allotted to build and strengthen its existing Pain & Symptom Management Program which provided over 2,280 consultations last year. The goal of the project is to implement and evaluate a specialist interdisciplinary palliative care consultation team created to strengthen the primary health care system’s capacity to deliver quality home based palliative care. The project also aims to improve patient and family access to expert interdisciplinary palliative care. It is hoped that the project will achieve a reduction in suffering and improve the quality of living and dying experienced by patients and their families. As a part of the demonstration project 4 geographically based specialist interdisciplinary palliative care consultation teams have been created to serve York Region. Each team consists of a certified Palliative Medicine physician, and an expert palliative care nurse consultant all with many years experience in the specialty. These consultation teams will deliver 24/7 expert palliative care consultation and practice-based education for Primary Care physicians and other health care providers who are in need of advice and support. In addition, a formalized network of Primary Care physicians skilled in palliative care will be created to accept terminally ill patients with no family physician. Primary care providers will be linked with specialist care providers through Community Care Access Centres in York Region. With the introduction of these services the capacity to deliver quality home based palliative care in York Region will increase, quality of life for those individuals living with a terminal illness in York Region will improve, and the use of acute care resources will be reduced. Individuals with no family physician in York Region will have a greater access to palliative care from primary care physicians, and access to interdisciplinary expert palliative care will improve. PalCare Network and the demonstration project team urge health care providers working in the palliative care setting, or individuals living with a long term illness to contact them for more information. For more information please call: |
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