Board approves decommissioning of several internal health policies, staff to move key protocols into divisional living guides

The Board of Health voted to decommission a set of internal health department policies after staff presented a consolidated spreadsheet showing where each policy and its critical procedures would be retained as living protocols.

"What we've tried to do is capture...the responsible party within the health department," presenter Daniella said, explaining the table lists the responsible division, a staff contact, file names and the last confirmed date for each protocol. Director Diana D'amour noted the exercise is intended to prevent staff from searching disparate drives and folders.

The board discussed several examples: the clinical laboratory procedure manual will move to Preventable Diseases and Clinical Services with select protocols kept; a credit card procurement policy will be maintained by the comptroller's office while the health department remains responsible for compliance; and dye testing and water testing procedures will be folded into Environmental Health protocols.

A motion to consider decommissioning the listed policies was made and seconded, and the board voted to approve the change. Director D'amour thanked staff for the work and said the department will continue to bring policy revisions and proposed replacements back to the board for review and future votes.