Operational Directives (OD)
Operational Directives are policy statements that are approved by the Director-General of Health and are mandatory for all WA Health staff to comply with.
The difference between an Operational Directive and an Information Circular is that compliance to Operational Directives is mandatory and requires approval by the Director-General of Health.
Examples of Operational Directives are:
- Application of industrial agreements and awards
OD 0283/10 Public Service Department Divisions and State Wide Shared Services Classification Review Committee Terms of Reference - Government policy directions
OD 0295/10 WA Policy on Ambulance Diversion for the Health Services of the Perth Metropolitan Area - Clinical protocols
OD 0239/09 Newborn Hearing Screening - Incident reporting
OD 0262/10 Western Australian Health Complaint Management Policy (2009)
Information Circular (IC)
Information Circulars are documents that provide advice or guidance within WA’s public health system. The process for developing an Information Circular is the same as an Operational Directive. Information Circulars are not policy statements, although they may be used to advise the existence or change in status of a policy statement. Information Circulars are to be kept brief and written in plain language.
Information Circulars require the approval of either:
- Executive Director (or Director) within the Department of Health
- Chief Executive/s of Area Health Services.
Examples of Information Circulars are:
- Industrial award variations
IC 0076/10 Hospital Salaried Officers - Clarification of On-call, Recall and Travel Allowance Provisions - Fee increases (gazetted under legislation)
IC 0027/08 Notification that the WA Patient Fees Manual has been Published on the Department of Health Intranet (Holii) - Advice on introduction of new legislation
IC 0008/07 Coroners Act 1996