Eight in Ten (86%) Canadians Expect the Federal Government to Develop and Implement National Standards on Palliative Care

Toronto, ON - More than eight in ten (86%) Canadians agree (47% strongly/39% somewhat) they expect the federal government to develop and implement national standards for palliative care in Canada, according to a new Ipsos survey commissioned by Palliative Care Matters. A significant majority (85%) also support (53% strongly/32% somewhat) integrating national standards for palliative health care services into the Canada Health Act.

Many Canadians also think the federal government's plan of action for palliative care services should be clearly set out in writing. Nine in ten (89%) agree (57% strongly/32% somewhat) a document outlining the federal government's plan for implementing a palliative care program should be readily available for all Canadians. Further, eight in ten (79%) agree (40% strongly/39% somewhat) they would read a document that outlines the federal government's plan for implementing a palliative care program across Canada.

This high level of support for federal engagement on palliative care comes as one in four (24%) Canadians say that they themselves are currently caregivers or have at some point been a caregiver for someone important to them who was or is currently dealing with a life-threatening illness.

For nine in ten (92%) Canadians, the essential elements (minimum standards) of a palliative health care program in a Canadian health care facility include pain management (70% agree strongly/22% somewhat), while nearly as many (88%) agree (50% strongly/39% somewhat) there should also be someone in the system to coordinate care, like a nurse, family doctor or social worker.

Despite this, overall visibility of palliative care and related types of care remains low. Only six in ten (58%) Canadians are aware (16% very/43% somewhat) of palliative care, while just over half (55%) are aware of end of life care (13% very/42% somewhat). Half (49%) are aware of residential hospice care (10% very/39% somewhat), while about one in three (36%) are aware of advance care planning (8% very/28% somewhat), meaning two in three (64%) Canadians are unaware. Lastly, only 15% of Canadians are aware (3% very/ 12% somewhat) about Compassionate Care Benefits provided by the federal government, leaving more than eight in ten (85%) Canadians unaware of these benefits.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between August 2-11, 2016, on behalf of Palliative Care Matters. For this survey, a sample of 1,540 Canadians from Ipsos' online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/ - 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Erin Roulston
Vice President
(587) 952 4876
Ipsos Public Affairs
[email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos ranks third in the global research industry. With a strong presence in 87 countries, Ipsos employs more than 16,000 people and has the ability to conduct research programs in more than 100 countries. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is controlled and managed by research professionals. They have built a solid Group around a multi-specialist positioning-- Media and advertising research; Marketing research; Client and employee relationship management; Opinion & social research; Mobile, Online, Offline data collection and delivery. Ipsos has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1999. www.ipsos.com

For more information on Palliative Care Matters, please visit the website at www.palliativecarematters.ca