Saskatchewan Health provides a number of policies, procedures, and guidelines for use by all health service providers and agencies, including regional health authorities (RHAs), health care organizations (HCOs), Saskatchewan Health (ministry), and the public.

This Regional Health Services Policy and Procedures Document Library is designed to:

• Clarify and expand on legislative and regulatory provisions related to the operation and delivery of services provided by health service providers;
• Provide a record of ministry policies, procedures, and guidelines regarding programs and services provided by health service providers’ operations; and
• Provide information that may form part of the basis of monitoring and/or evaluating programs and services.

You will find all information related to a particular policy by clicking on links in the Table of Contents. Other relevant information that pertains to a policy may include, for example, guidelines or samples of agreements.

There are four categories or types of information contained within the electronic policy and procedure manual: Policy, Procedure, Guideline, and General Information. The following are Saskatchewan Health's definitions of these categories for the purposes of this manual.

Policy

A policy is a statement of a mandatory course or method established by Saskatchewan Health that regional health authorities and health care organizations must comply with in their operations and decision-making.

Note: For the ministry’s purpose policies can be to:

• interpret or clarify legislative provisions (where further clarification or a description of process is necessary); or
• define those matters which are supplementary to specific legislation and are part of the ministry’s mandate.

Policies define a required course of action. It is important to differentiate policy from those items which can be categorized as procedures, guidelines, or general information.

Procedure

A procedure is a series of steps to be followed or particular action(s) to implement to perform a function and may comply with policy or guidelines.

Guideline

A guideline is a statement or other explanation by which to set standards or determine a course of action. The guidelines may or may not be required to be followed in order to comply with policy.

General Information

General information is any additional information on a specific situation or topic which may be beneficial but is not required to comply with policy. This may include but is not limited to: educational material, ministry guidance or options for consideration.

• The policies, procedures, guidelines, and general information contained in this Policy Site will be revised as changes occur.
• Saskatchewan Health will review and revise all entries annually to ensure that all revisions have been included and obsolete policies have been removed.
• Additions to the manual will be made as the process for documenting existing policies continues and new policies are developed.
• RHAs and HCOs will receive an electronic notification of revisions/additions to the Policy Site.

AESB - Acute & Emergency Services Branch
CARS - Capital and Regional Services
CCB - Community Care Branch
DPEB - Drug Plan & Extended Benefits Branch
FSB - Finance Services Branch
HCO - Health Care Organizations
HISC - Health Information Solutions Centre 
HRB - Human Resources Branch
MSB - Medical Services Branch
PPB - Policy & Planning Branch
PHB - Population Health Branch
PHSB - Primary Health Services Branch 
RHA - Regional Health Authority
WPB - Workforce Planning Branch