Palliative Home Care Ontario: End-of-Life Services and Hospice Options

What Palliative Home Care Covers

Palliative care in Ontario is not limited to the final days. It starts when a life-limiting illness is diagnosed and continues alongside curative treatment for as long as needed. The goal is comfort, symptom management, and quality of life — not just end-of-life planning.

Ontario Health atHome coordinates publicly funded palliative home care, which includes:

• Palliative nursing — pain and symptom management, medication adjustments, wound care, and coordination with the palliative physician or nurse practitioner
• Personal support workers — assistance with bathing, dressing, transfers, and personal care as physical function declines
• Medical equipment and supplies — hospital beds, oxygen equipment, specialized mattresses, and palliative-specific medical supplies
• Therapy services — physiotherapy for mobility maintenance, occupational therapy for home modifications
• Social work — emotional support, advance care planning discussions, family counselling, and grief preparation

These services are publicly funded when approved as part of the care plan. Service levels depend on assessed needs and the palliative supports available in your area; ask the care coordinator what services and hours are available as your parent's condition progresses.

How to Access Palliative Home Care

The pathway is the same as for any Ontario Health atHome service: call 310-2222 or 1-833-515-1234. A care coordinator is assigned to manage the palliative care plan.

A physician or nurse practitioner can provide clinical information for the referral, but a family member can also initiate the call.

Hospital-based palliative care teams can refer directly to Ontario Health atHome for transition home. If your parent is in hospital and the medical team has shifted focus to comfort care, ask the hospital social worker to initiate the home palliative care referral before discharge.

Residential Hospice

When care at home is no longer feasible — typically in the final weeks or months of life — residential hospice is an option. Ontario has residential hospices providing 24/7 palliative care in a home-like setting.

Key facts about residential hospice in Ontario:

• Cost: Free. Residential hospice care is publicly funded. There is no accommodation co-payment like there is for long-term care.
• Eligibility: Your parent must have a life-limiting illness with a prognosis typically measured in weeks to months. A physician or nurse practitioner must confirm the palliative diagnosis.
• Referral: Through the care coordinator at Ontario Health atHome or directly through the hospice's intake team. Some hospices accept self-referrals.
• Wait times: Variable. Popular hospices in urban areas may have short wait lists. The care coordinator can help identify hospices with availability.
• What is provided: Private or semi-private rooms, 24-hour nursing, pain and symptom management, personal care, meals, spiritual care, family support, and bereavement counselling for family members after death.

Residential hospice is distinct from a palliative care unit in a hospital. Hospices are designed as home-like environments with fewer medical interventions and more focus on comfort and family presence.

Short-Stay and Convalescent Options

Not every decline is terminal. For seniors recovering from a hospitalization, surgery, or acute illness who are not ready to return home:

Short-stay respite in long-term care — temporary admission to a long-term care bed for up to 90 days per calendar year. The co-payment is $45.31 per day as of July 2026. This provides round-the-clock nursing and personal care during recovery. The care coordinator at Ontario Health atHome arranges placement based on bed availability.

Convalescent care beds — some hospitals and long-term care homes have designated convalescent care beds for patients who no longer need acute hospital care but are not yet stable enough for home. These are usually time-limited stays of 30–45 days, up to a maximum of 90 days per calendar year, with a focus on rehabilitation and recovery.

Both options buy time for the family to prepare the home, arrange additional community services, or decide whether long-term care is needed permanently.

Planning Ahead

The hardest part of palliative care is timing. Families often wait too long to engage palliative services, thinking it means giving up on treatment. In Ontario, palliative care runs alongside active treatment — starting early means better symptom management and more time to plan.

If your parent has a progressive illness — advanced dementia, heart failure, COPD, or cancer — ask their physician about a palliative care referral now, even if the prognosis is months or years. The care coordinator can put services in place gradually, scaling up as needs increase, rather than scrambling in a crisis.

The Ontario Continuing Care Navigator covers the full spectrum of care transitions — from initial home care through long-term care placement and end-of-life planning — with checklists and scripts for each stage of the journey.

See more Ontario guides →