Maternity Services
Referring women to Maternity services at
Southern Health
Obstetric services are provided at Monash Medical Centre,
Clayton, Dandenong
Hospital
and Casey Hospital. Each of these sites is able to provide a different level of
care and we try to ensure that women are booked to deliver at the site most
appropriate to their clinical as well as other needs.
All referrals for
maternity services are made through the Central maternity booking service.
This allows Southern Health to manage the maternity bookings
demand across the whole health service according to each site’s model of care
and capacity. It also facilitates the prioritisation of maternity bookings at
Monash Medical Centre Clayton to accommodate women with tertiary level care
requirements, thus improving safety and clinical outcomes.
GP Referrals
Fax referrals to 9594 6298.
Accredited GP Obstetric
providers are asked to complete a
Maternity Booking Appraisal
form and send this with their referral.
GPs can advise women that they will be contacted with an
appointment within 2 weeks of receipt of the referral
Patient self referral
Women can make bookings without a referral by telephone on
9594 2229 (9594 BABY) or alternatively by email to
maternity_bookings@southernhealth.org.au. Email requests for
booking should include the woman’s full name, date of birth, address, phone
number, contactable phone number during business hours and estimated due date.
(Note this is a non encrypted email address).
GP Accreditation in Obstetrics
General
practitioners play an important role in maternity services, with almost 400 GPs
accredited to provide shared antenatal care or GP Obstetrics across Southern
Health. Women can birth at Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, Dandenong Hospital
and Casey hospital. As well, antenatal and post natal care is provided in a
range of community settings.
How do
I become an accredited Maternity provider?
Accreditation to provide maternity services with Southern health is for a 3 year
period, concurrent with the RACGP triennium. GPs can be affiliated as shared
care providers or as GP Obstetricians.
Summary of Accreditation requirements for
GP Obstetricians and GP shared maternity care affiliates
How to
apply: new GP Affiliates:
Download the GP Obstetrician
Accreditation form
Download the Shared Maternity Care
affiliate Accreditation form
How to
apply: existing GP affiliates:
Download the GP Obstetrician
Re-Accreditation form
Download the Shared Maternity
Care affiliate Re-Accreditation form
What is the Antenatal shared
care program?
Women can
undertake shared antenatal care whereby they are managed jointly by their GP and
a specialist throughout the antenatal period. Accredited GPs can share care
with a public hospital clinic or with an Obstetrician in private practice. This
latter model is in operation at Dandenong and Casey. The shared antenatal model
of care is described in the
attached table.
Shared
antenatal care is ideal for low risk pregnancies; Southern health guidelines
regarding the suitability of women for shared care are found
here. Note
that accredited GP obstetricians are able to provide full antenatal care without
specialist review. A list of Southern Health accredited GP Obstetricians
is available here
. Southern Health guidelines for GP Obstetricians are attached
here
In the
Dandenong and Casey areas accredited GPs will often share care with an
Obstetrician in his/her private rooms. A list of Dandenong area Obstetricians
affiliated with Southern Health an be found
here.
Routine Investigations During
Pregnancy
Women who are
participating in GP shared antenatal care or are seeing a GP Obstetrician
throughout their pregnancy will have all of their routine antenatal tests in the
community. GPs should request these through their preferred pathology/imaging
providers. Results should be given to the woman to bring to her hospital
appointments.
For information on routine antenatal tests GPs should refer
to the 3 Centres Guidelines on Antenatal Care
http://www.3centres.com.au.
Information
for Pregnant women
Understanding the options for pregnancy care can be confusing for women.
Southern Health has developed brochures which outline all of the available
models of care at each of our hospital sites where women can deliver. These can
be used to facilitate discussion with women when considering their maternity
care options.
Casey Hospital 
Dandenong
Hospital Monash
Medical Centre
