Aboriginal Health Workshops
Maternity services
The Victorian policy document on Maternity Services is the Future Directions for Victoria’s Maternity Services. Victorian health services report against ten performance indicators for maternity care. The annual report and information on other DH initiatives can be found on the Maternity Care in Victoria website.
Shared Maternity Care
There is no state wide coordination of maternity shared care in Victoria. Maternity Shared Care is the separate responsibility of each hospital as detailed in a statement from the Joint Consultative Committee on Obstetrics (JCCO) [PDF 49KB].
General Practice Liaison plays a significant role in supporting shared maternity care, including GP engagement, accreditation, reaccreditation, and education of shared maternity care affiliates. The GPL units working in hospitals with maternity services formed a group called the Maternity GPL Network(MGPLN) [DOC 31KB] to further their work in shared maternity care. The MGPLN have developed a suite of building blocks for the delivery of shared maternity care [DOC 34KB].
Central to the success of the MGPLN is the willingness of the Shared Maternity Collaborative (SMCC) to share their expertise and resources. The SMCC consists of the Royal Women’s Hospital, Mercy Hospital for Women, Sunshine Hospital and the Northern Hospital. Members of the SMCC have signed a MOU that has resulted in agreed accreditation and reaccreditation criteria, and processes that facilitate a standard application process for GPs who can be accredited once for any of the four hospitals.
Education and support for GPs
Shared Maternity Care Affiliates are required to complete professional education on pregnancy related care to maintain their accreditation. Education is provided by the health services. Over the triennium this has been mainly through completing either
- 10 RACGP Group 2 CPD points from CPD activities directly related to pregnancy care, pre pregnancy care, the postnatal period and/or the neonatal period; or
- a Supervised Antenatal Session.
The RACGP also provides online learning on pregnancy related care.
The Royal Women’s Hospital is currently updating the shared care affiliate guidelines. Resources available to GPs include:
- 3 Centres Consensus Guidelines on Antenatal Care
- Royal Women’s Hospital Maternity Clinical Practice Guidelines
Victorian Maternity Record (VMR)
The Victorian Maternity Record (VMR) is a government initiative to provide pregnant women with a hand held record. The VMR was implemented in December 2009. The VMR is free to women, GPs and hospitals. GPs can order the VMR here.
GPs are asked to encourage women to carry the VMR to all medical appointments and hospital visits. A GP Fact sheet (PDF 45KB) on the VMR is available.
For further information contact:
Jane Measday, GPLO Program Consultant Ph: 03 9341 5220 | Fax 03 9341 5299 | Email j.measday@gpv.org.au