Do family health clinics provide primary-level palliative care in Ontario and the eastern regions of Quebec?

Article Figures & Data

Table 1.

Number of responding primary care clinics and response rates

PROVINCE	TYPE OF PRIMARY CARE PRACTICE	CLINICS IN JURISDICTION, N	*COMPLETED SURVEYS,^ N**	RESPONSE RATE, %
Ontario	Family health team	185	54	29
	Community health centre	108	23	21
	Nurse practitioner–led clinic	25	20	80
	Aboriginal health access centre	10	5	50
	Total	328	102^*	31
Eastern Quebec	Local community health service centre (centre local de services communautaires)	50	13	26
	Family medicine group (groupe de médecine familiale)	55	15	27
	Family medicine unit (unité de médecine familiale)	12	11	92
	Total	117	39	33

Table 2.

Types of palliative care services provided by responding clinics

SERVICE OFFERED	ONTARIO (N = 102), N (%)	EASTERN QUEBEC (N = 39), N (%)
Care for ambulatory patients with progressive illness	85 (83)	29 (74)
Home visits to provide end-of-life care for patients	80 (78)	36 (92)
Care coverage provided outside of regular office hours	54 (53)	24 (62)
Advance care planning	78 (76)	26 (67)
Grief and bereavement support	68 (67)	9 (23)
Care for patients in long-term care facilities	43 (42)	20 (51)
Care for patients in residential hospices	18 (18)	22 (56)
Care for patients in palliative care units	16 (16)	16 (41)

Table 3.

Clinics’ access to and use of palliative care resources and services

PALLIATIVE CARE RESOURCES AND SERVICES	ONTARIO (N = 102)		EASTERN QUEBEC (N = 39)^*

	HAVE ACCESS TO, N (%)	ACTUALLY USE, N (%)	HAVE ACCESS TO, N (%)	ACTUALLY USE, N (%)
CCAC palliative care case management and contracted nursing services	91 (89)	88 (86)	NA	NA
Palliative care consultation team in community	68 (67)	65 (64)	13 (41)	12 (38)
CCAC palliative care nurse practitioners	55 (54)	43 (42)	NA	NA
Palliative care physicians (take over care as most responsible physician)	57 (56)	45 (44)	12 (39)	12 (39)
Residential hospice for patients at end of life	49 (48)	39 (38)	22 (69)	19 (59)
Community hospice programs (day hospice, hospice at home)	42 (41)	35 (34)	20 (63)	18 (56)
Palliative care unit (for complex cases across the illness trajectory)	43 (42)	34 (33)	17 (57)	17 (57)