How do I reference a hospital or school policy? (Harvard style)
Last Updated: 07.Jun.2023 Views: 1153

The answer to this question depends on whether the policy is publicly available or not.

If it is a document that is only available internally to staff employed by the organisation/institution, or is something that needs to be anonymised to maintain confidentiality, please see our FAQ:  'How do I reference unpublished or confidential information? (Harvard style)'.

If the policy is freely available for anyone to find via the internet (and assuming there are no issues around confidentiality) then reference it as a document accessed online. If it has a unique identifying number on it, remember to include that in the reference too.

Citation order:

  • Author - will usually be the name of the institution or organisation
  • Year of publication (in round brackets)
  • Title (in italics)
  • Reference, publication or version number (if given)
  • Available at: URL
  • (Accessed: date)

Examples:

Park Hall Infant Academy (2022) Attendance and absence policy. Available at: https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/parkhallinfantwalsall/UploadedDocument/c74d833e-e9c2-49f3-aec9-8e4a8d238692/attendance-and-absence-policy-2022-2023.pdf (Accessed: 3 March 2023).

Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (2020) Pressure ulcer prevention and management policy. Version 11. Available at: https://www.leicspart.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Pressure-Ulcer-Prevention-and-Management-Policy-exp-Oct-22.pdf (Accessed: 10 January 2022).

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