Every child living with a serious illness deserves access to compassionate, high-quality hospice palliative care, and every family deserves to be supported throughout their journey.

The Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA), in partnership with Canada’s Pediatric Palliative Care Alliance, has launched the Short Lives Can’t Wait campaign to raise awareness of the urgent need for equitable access to children’s hospice palliative care across Canada.

The campaign highlights a significant gap in care: only 18% of children who could have benefited from specialized pediatric palliative care received it. Among those who did receive specialized support, one in four received care for fewer than eight days before their death. These figures underscore the importance of ensuring children and families can access palliative care early, not only at the end of life, but throughout the course of a serious illness.

Access remains particularly challenging for children and families living in rural, remote, northern, and equity-deserving communities. As of November 2023, only 17 specialized pediatric palliative care programs had been identified across Canada, with most located in larger urban centres.

Short Lives Can’t Wait calls for action in four key areas:

• Equitable access to care — expanding children’s hospice palliative care services across all regions and integrating palliative care earlier throughout a child’s illness journey.
• Support for families and caregivers — recognizing caregivers as essential partners and strengthening access to respite, practical, emotional, and financial supports.
• Grief and bereavement support — ensuring children, parents, siblings, and families have access to culturally safe and ongoing grief and bereavement care.
• Building a stronger future — strengthening national collaboration, research, education, workforce development, and sustainable investment in pediatric palliative care.

A Shared Commitment to Children and Families

BCHPCA recognizes the importance of this national call to action. In British Columbia, hospice societies and community-based providers play an important role in supporting children and families facing serious illness, while also providing compassionate grief and bereavement support.

Equitable access to hospice palliative care means ensuring that children and families receive the right care, at the right time, in the location that best meets their needs. It also means recognizing that support for families does not end when a child dies. Grief and bereavement care are an essential part of the continuum of support.

The Short Lives Can’t Wait campaign is an important reminder that early access matters. No child or family should have to wait until the final days of life to receive the specialized care, support, and compassion they need.

BCHPCA encourages our members, partners, health care providers, and communities to learn more about the campaign and help raise awareness of the importance of equitable pediatric hospice palliative care across Canada.

Learn more about the Short Lives Can’t Wait campaign

Read the original eHospice Canada article