Writing Policies and Procedures

Chapter 13: Writing Policies and Procedures

Description:

In coming to grips with any topic, the first task is to define the key terms—in this case policy. Within this context, there are two sorts of policy: public policy and organisational policy. The activities listed below clearly refer to government functions, hence the term ‘public’; indeed, public policy is allabout how public resources are used and the expected outcomes from theallocation of resources. However, the principles behind each of these points can be adapted to policy areas of health services; that is, ‘organisational’ policy. The umbrella term of policy describes a number of organisational activities(Hogwood & Gunn 1984), including: a label for field of activity; an expression of general purpose or desired state of affairs; specific proposals; decisions of government; formal authorisation; programs; output; outcome; theory or model; and process.

• Introduction
  • A term for a government activity
  • An expression of general purpose or desired state of affairs
  • Specific proposals
  • Decisions of government
  • Formal authorisation
  • Programs
  • Output
  • Outcome
  • Theory or model
  • Process
• Policies and procedures
• Why are policies important?
• Policy framework
• Policy development
• Policy implementation
• Content of policies
• Policy documents
• Safeguards in policy development
• Management of policies
• Conclusion
• References

Speaker/ Author:

Neil Croll
Neil trained as a registered psychiatric nurse at Mont Park Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. He has a degree in theology from the Melbourne College of Divinity; holds graduate diplomas in community health and health administration, both from the Lincoln Institute of Health Sciences (Melbourne); and a master’s degree of health Sciences in health administration at La Trobe University (Melbourne). Neil lives south of Hobart in Tasmania and works for Gwylata Consulting, writing educational material and editing and proofreading masters and doctoral theses, in particular from overseas students studying in Australia.

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