Thank you very much for highlighting this incredibly important part of the care trajectory. The cancer continuum is so vast. I think that mental health piece includes grief and bereavement.
We know that Canadians with cancer are three times more likely to receive palliative care. There's so much more that we can be doing.
I really appreciate the opportunity to talk about hospice beds. There are not enough hospice beds in facilities across the country. The Canadian Cancer Society in October released a report that really distinguished the gaps across jurisdictions.
The best practice, as identified by the auditor general in Ontario and others, suggests that we should have seven hospice beds per 100,000 people. By our count, which was at the end of May 2022, there are only approximately four beds per 100,000 people. That does not take into account at all the challenges that are faced in rural and remote communities and in community care provided in one's setting of choice. I should say, to be fair to British Columbia, its numbers are much better.
We were so pleased that Health Canada did have that report back in December on the progress that we are making in palliative care in this country. There's a lot more that can be done, though, specifically around grief and bereavement.
We are asking the federal government to dedicate $7.5 million over three years to improve national data and standards for palliative care; to develop a national atlas that maps out where services are located across the country; and to invest in research, education and training as it relates to palliative care delivery.