Brampton’s health care funding and service shortfalls are well-documented, but there’s one area where the city has almost no infrastructure at all — residential “end-of-life” or palliative care.

Board members from Kay Blair Residential Hospice — named in memory of Brampton resident Kay Blair, who died in 2016 — gave a presentation to committee of council at its Jan. 30 meeting asking the city for political support, funding and surplus land to build a planned 12-bed hospice.

“The number of people dying in Ontario is growing. Currently, there are no residential hospice beds in the city of Brampton. The provincial formula is 5.1 to 5.6 residential hospice beds per 100,000 people,” board member Todd Fraleigh told council, adding Brampton would need 30-35 beds to hit that benchmark.

In 2017, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care allocated operational funding for 200 new residential hospice beds across the province. Twelve of those beds were allocated to Kay Blair Hospice through the Central West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).

Currently, according to Kay Blair's presentation to council, the only residential palliative care beds available in Brampton are at Brampton Civic Hospital, which is among the busiest hospitals in the province and has faced chronic bed shortages for years.

In addition, the Auditor General of Ontario reported in 2014 that the cost of providing one day of care in a hospital was approximately $1,000, compared to $460 in a residential hospice.

Martin Chasen, medical director of palliative care for the William Osler Health System said there are palliative care services available in Brampton.

There was a lot of interest in the project from members of council, who unanimously passed a motion to refer the matter to staff and report back on options for providing surplus land and funding at a future council meeting.

Staff will also report back on the possibility of a 30-bed hospice or additional locations in the future to fill the current gap in service.

“#Brampton needs palliative care beds,” tweeted Mayor Patrick Brown shortly after the Jan. 30 presentation. “We are determined to make the Kay Blair Hospice a reality in the @CityBrampton #brampoli #onpoli.”