Fraser Health’s approach to providing clinical and organizational support was established in 2005 with the creation of Fraser Health Ethics Services.
Fraser Health has a framework for raising and addressing ethically challenging issues and questions. The framework includes services for supporting clinical/bedside issues across the continuum of care, system level issues (for developing policies, practice guidelines, and strategies), decision-making tools and resources. Consults can be requested by anyone in the organization including patients and patients’ families/loved ones. The framework includes steps for systematic analysis of issues against values (criteria).
The ethics framework that has been developed is becoming increasingly comprehensive and better resourced since that time. The department now includes support for addressing issues of diversity. The ethics framework includes tools, education resources, clinical and system level consultation services, and community engagement resources and mechanisms.