Nova Scotia is currently in the middle of an acute hospice bed crisis. The consequence of this is that too many families face the difficult and personal path of end-of-life care with insufficient aid. Claire Prashad, the nurse manager at a local hospice, points to this chilling statistic. For each one person they are able to admit, they have to turn away two others. Currently, about 30-35 people are in line for care at one time. This situation is more pressing than ever as the need for hospice services continues to increase throughout the province.
With just 30 total hospice beds across the entire province, the system of hospice care in B.C. These beds are distributed among three locations: 10 in Halifax, 10 in the Annapolis Valley at Valley Hospice, and 10 in Cape Breton. Yet, as Prashad highlights, this represents a huge gap in hospice care for Nova Scotia. The province is missing the recognized benchmark of seven hospice beds per 100,000 people and is short as many as 80 beds to keep pace with increasing need.
Current State of Hospice Care in Nova Scotia
Prashad’s observations cannot shelter us from the cruel reality of the state of hospice care in Nova Scotia. The Valley Hospice’s financial model is distinctive, and very different from Hospice Halifax. Nonetheless, both organizations are cursed by the same fate due to the low number of beds that are actually available. Even though each of these places only has 10 beds, the demand for this kind of end-of-life care is still extremely high.
“To be able to be here and just be a sister, a mother, a brother, a wife, a husband, a friend, is huge,” Prashad stated. This feeling underscores the importance of the work hospices do. They allow families to focus on relationships beyond the caregiving role. The real-world effects of the current shortage are felt by patients every day. It further burdens their families, making them assume roles for which they are ill suited.
Given the escalating waiting list, hundreds of thousands of families languish for years in uncertainty about their loved ones’ access to needed care. Prashad noted, “For every one person we can take in, two are turned away.” This scenario pits families against each other’s choices and threatens to leave children without the proper care in life-and-death situations.
The Importance of Palliative Care
Palliative care brings relief and peace at life’s end. It removes the goal of finding a cure and instead finds peace and relief. “Instead of looking at cure, you’re looking at comfort, which is still just as powerful to be a part of,” Prashad explained. Innovative engagement is central to making this approach work. It supports patients and their families as they face the emotional and physical demands of living with terminal conditions.
Many families who receive care at local hospices express gratitude for the compassionate and empathetic support provided by caregivers and volunteers. “They can’t speak highly enough about the compassionate and empathetic care that they’re receiving from the caregivers that are there, including the volunteers,” Prashad said. This positive feedback clearly reflects the importance hospices play in enhancing the quality of life for patients facing terminal diagnoses. In addition, they are a critical lifeline for families to weather economic storms.
The necessity for more hospice beds is not just about numbers. It is about ensuring that every individual has access to dignified end-of-life care. “The people who know, know — and we’re advocating,” Prashad stated, emphasizing the ongoing efforts to improve hospice services in Nova Scotia.
Call for Action
Gerry Morey, the chair of the foundation that brought the Annapolis Valley hospice into being, agrees with Prashad on this point. He is a tireless champion for more hospices to be urgently built in Nova Scotia. Yet the infrastructure that’s in place isn’t enough to meet the increasing demand for quality end-of-life care.
For the provincial government, it starts with recognition, and means committing sustainable funding for hospice care. This will help guarantee that patients get the compassionate care they need and deserve. What we are doing now is simply not sustainable. It’s not just cruel, it fails to ensure…automatic…adequate quality end-of-life care that people would want and deserve.
