Pallium Canada Sought $300 Million for Palliative Training
The organization proposed a national training standard to improve palliative care access and reduce health system hospital costs.
Updated on Oct. 13, 2026 in Nursing Jobs
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Pallium Canada has requested $300 million in federal funding to establish national palliative care training standards for nurses, physicians, and personal support workers. The proposal aims to shift care away from hospital settings to reduce system costs and improve patient outcomes.
Why it matters
Early palliative intervention is shown to prevent avoidable hospital transfers and reduce healthcare system burden. The initiative seeks to recover an estimated $25 billion in economic output currently lost to mortality and caregiving.
Patients supported by palliative home care spent 18 days in hospital during their last year of life, compared to 28 days for those without such support. Furthermore, access to palliative care in long-term homes grew from six per cent in 2016-2017 to 19 per cent by 2021-2022.
The players
Pallium Canada
This national non-profit organization focuses on building professional capacity and quality standards for palliative care across the country.
The details
The proposed national training standard would provide a unified baseline for frontline workers while funding mentorship, staff backfill capacity, and program evaluation. Evidence suggests that 26 per cent of patients without palliative home care undergo life-saving interventions, compared to only 11 per cent for those receiving palliative support.
Timeline
1993: Referral to treatment wait times were 9.3 weeks.
2016-2017: Six per cent of long-term residents received palliative care.
2021-2022: CIHI collected national palliative care data.
2025: Referral to treatment wait times reached 28.6 weeks.
October 5, 2026: Pallium Canada held a press conference on Parliament Hill.
Market Landscape
This proposal reflects a broader move to address systemic inefficiencies within the Canadian healthcare sector, which recorded referral wait times of 28.6 weeks in 2025. It positions the need for specialized training as a critical intervention against rising hospital costs and economic output losses.
If implemented, the training standards could improve care quality for residents in long-term facilities and patients receiving home care. This shift aims to reduce the time families spend managing hospital-based care and alleviate the strain on the national healthcare system.
The takeaway
Early access to palliative care serves as a proven strategy to reduce patient time in hospitals and improve quality of life. Expanding training standards is a central component for provinces to lower healthcare costs while supporting caregivers.
Further reading
For additional context on the workforce needs of the healthcare sector, see the latest Nursing Jobs updates.
More information
To review the evidence brief or the full training initiative, visit the Pallium Canada official website.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Catholicregister.
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