History
William Osler Health System (Osler) serves a region of over 1.3 million people in one of the fastest growing and most culturally diverse regions of Ontario. Osler is a fully integrated health system that includes Etobicoke General Hospital, Brampton Civic Hospital, Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness, Osler Reactivation Care Centre and Osler Withdrawal Management Centre.
Osler is one of Canada’s largest community hospital systems, with its emergency departments among the busiest in the country. Nationally recognized for its commitment to patient safety, Osler is also Accredited with Exemplary Standing, the highest rating a Canadian hospital can receive from Accreditation Canada, Osler is also home to some of the largest specialty programmes in Ontario including Oncology, Palliative Care, Renal, Mental Health and Additions and Obstetrics.
Osler’s Oncology and Palliative Care Program is located primarily at Brampton Civic Hospital and is part of the Mississauga Halton Central West Regional Cancer Program. The program serves a diverse community and provides high-quality cancer care including prevention and throughout the trajectory of disease (cancer assessment, treatment, support, follow-up, palliative, and end of life care). Osler has a fully integrated Supportive and Palliative Care Team that works collaboratively with other inter-professional teams in both inpatient and outpatient settings to provide care for oncology patients.
Profile
Oncology and Palliative Care Program services include:
- Ambulatory Oncology program with a 32-chair chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatment suite
- Oncology Urgent Clinic
- Multi-site outpatient clinics in Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology
- Survivorship program
- Inpatient 37-bed Oncology / Palliative Care unit at Brampton Civic Hospital, as well as a 12-bed Palliative Care inpatient unit at Etobicoke General Hospital
Through the Supportive and Palliative Care clinics (Brampton Civic and Etobicoke General) and alongside community home care nurses, Osler physicians, registered nurses, and the programmes nurse practitioner provide a 24-hour service to palliative patients:
- in their homes (palliative physicians)
- outpatient appointments in clinic
- via telemedicine and videoconferencing
- in long-term care centres
- throughout the hospital on a consultative basis
Osler also provides access to:
- multi-faith chaplains and spiritual workers that offer spiritual counselling as required
- home care services which are coordinated regionally with Osler’s community partners
- hospices – both residential and community-based
Specialities
- Medical Oncology
- Breast, Colon and Thoracic Diagnostic Assessment Programmes
- Molecular diagnostic (Genomics)
- Surgical Oncology
- GI Endoscopy
- Hematology
- Psychosocial support
- Immuno-oncology education, treatment and follow up
- Oncology Urgent Clinic
- Oral Anticancer (OAT) Programme
- Survivorship – an interdisciplinary team that supports patients that have completed anti-cancer treatments and are free of disease. Focus on surveillance, monitoring of long term side effects, distress management and life style changes
- Day 1 Auto-Stem Cell Transplant program
- Research
- Education – Osler is associated with both McMaster University and the University of Toronto
Palliative and Supportive Care
The Supportive and Palliative Care Team actively promotes care for patients with distressing symptoms, from the date of the diagnosis of a life-limiting illness, and not only for those at the end-of-life.
The focus with early palliative care is on improving patients’ quality of life by managing distressing symptoms, addressing psychosocial, practical and spiritual issues, providing advice and support for goals of care discussions, and helping with advance care planning, grief and bereavement. Supportive and Palliative Care is based on an inter‐professional approach to care in close collaboration with colleagues across the entire region to provide seamless care close to home.
The team works in collaboration with oncologists and other health care professionals across a number of settings. It is also well-networked with hospices and community services to ensure smooth transitions of care to the community.
Last update: March 2024
