​Maternity referrals

Women requesting maternity care at Western Health require a GP referral.

GPs are required to provide the following information and tests results for triaging and appointment allocation.

The regional maternity referral form below outlines information and tests required for referral and can be downloaded into GP software to assist with the referral process.

Information required

• Pt details – Name, address, DOB, phone, interpreter details

• GP details

• LNMP

• EDC

• BMI

• Past medical and obstetric history

Investigations
Mandatory

Fax referrals, with available results, to Women’s clinic on 9055 2125​. 

Regional Referral Form

Western Health, Djerriwarrh Health Services and Werribee Mercy Hospital have revised their jointly developed regional maternity referral form that encompasses all maternity services within the area (and can be used for Mercy Hospital for Women Heidelberg).  This means the one referral form can be completed and sent to any of the participating hospitals.  The aim is to reduce the unnecessary duplication of forms required by GPs and ensures that comprehensive clinical information is included in the referrals to allow to accurate and efficient triaging.  

The 2024 Maternity Referral Form is available as a Medical Director, Best Practice and ZedMed compatible template. It is also available in a word version for upload into other practice software and as a PDF version.

Word template Maternity Care Referral Form 2024

PDF template Maternity Care Referral Form 2024

Medical Director -  Medical Director Import Instructions
1. DO NOT OPEN IN WORD
2. Right click on the link and then select Save As… (Or Save Target As…) and then save the file to a location from where you can later retrieve it i.e. desktop or My documents.
3. Open Medical Director and then LetterWriter
4. File menu > Select modify template > Select blank template
5. File > Select import - locate downloaded file

 Western Health Maternity Care Referral Form 

Best Practice - Best Practice Import Instructions
1. DO NOT OPEN IN WORD
2. Right click on the link and then select Save As… (Or Save Target As…) and then save the file to a location from where you can later retrieve it i.e. desktop or My documents. Open a new letter and from templates menu select Import templates
3. Locate downloaded file and open
4. From File menu select Save as. Type in an appropriate template name and click on save

 Western Health Maternity Care Referral Form 

ZedMed - Zedmed Import Instructions

1. DO NOT OPEN IN WORD
2. Right click on the link and then select Save As… (Or Save Target As…) and then save the file to a location from where you can later retrieve it i.e. desktop or My documents.
3. Click on Tools > Clinical WP Setup > WP Templates
4. File > Import Template
5. Find the file where you saved it and highlight it and then click Open
6. Enter the template name into the Description field. Click on OK  

 Western Health Maternity Care Referral Form 

Screening for Down’s syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities.

All women, irrespective of maternal age, should be counselled regarding their risk of chromosomal abnormalities and offered screening. Additional out of pocket costs are charged. These tests, apart from second trimester screening, must be ordered by the GP and are not available at the hospital.

Concerns regarding early pregnancy ultrasound
Contact women and children specialist clinics 8345 1727 or the Obstetric Registrar on call.

Pregnancy ultrasounds
Western Health has limited capacity to perform routine pregnancy ultrasounds. Women will be required to have these with community providers and will be referred back to their GP to obtain referral for routine ultrasounds. 

​Shared Maternity Care

Sunshine Hospital offers a number of options for pregnancy care to women who choose to birth with Western Health.  Shared maternity care is a major model of care in which a woman is cared for by both hospital staff and a community-based affiliate in the antenatal period.

What is Shared Maternity Care?

Shared Maternity Care is a model of care which allows women to have the majority of their antenatal visits in the community with a hospital affiliated GP, obstetrician or midwife. Shared maternity care aims to provide a community-based, holistic, safe and culturally appropriate model of care for women. Women often choose this model as it provides continuity of care, convenience and they have an existing relationship with their general practitioner (GP).

The Shared Maternity Care Program is available to any woman with a low risk pregnancy. The woman attends Sunshine Hospital for some antenatal visits, and attends the hospital for the birth and immediate postnatal care. Alternatively, patients enrolled in shared maternity care may attend a community clinic for most of their 'hospital' visits.

Shared Maternity Care Affiliate Guidelines

The Shared Care Guidelines 2021 provide shared maternity care affiliates with concise, up-to-date guidelines on the provision of shared maternity care at the hospitals of the Shared Maternity Care Collaborative; Sunshine Hospital, the Royal Women's Hospital, Northern Health Mercy Hospital for Women and Werribee Mercy Hospital. They also include information on antenatal care and hospital and community supports for women and health care providers.

Applying to become a shared maternity care affiliate

GPs and Obstetricians wishing to become a Shared Maternity Care Affiliate at one or more of the following sites; Sunshine Hospital, Royal Women's Hospital, Sandringham Hospital​,  the Mercy Hospital for Women, Werribee Mercy  and the Northern Hospital must fulfil one of the following criteria:

• DRANZCOG - primary qualification in last 5 years (recertification required)

• Diploma Obstetrics RACOG (no recertification required) plus recent involvement in provision of antenatal care

• Certificate of Women's Health plus recent involvement in provision of antenatal care

• FRANZCOG/FRACOG

• Significant hospital experience as an antenatal care provider

Applicants who do not meet the postgraduate/experience requirements should contact the GP Integration teams at their closest hospital site to ask for advice.

To apply to become a shared maternity care affiliate, please complete the application form for GP or Obstetrician and forward to the GP Advisor at [email protected].

Every three years, affiliates will be invited to be re-credentialed in order to maintain their affiliation. The re-credentialing criteria differ from the criteria required for initial credentialing and requires evidence of ongoing pregnancy related CPD.

Please note these are different from Women's Health points adjudicated by the RACGP. It is recommended that GPs keep the programs of pregnancy related activities they attend.

Education options for recredentialing

• Attendance at the annual Shared Maternity Collaborative Workshop

The Shared Maternity Care Collaborative which consists of Sunshine Hospital, Royal Women's Hospital, the Mercy Hospital for Women and the Northern Hospital host an education update each year on pregnancy related care. Attendance at this workshop contributes towards the education requirements for reaccreditation at each of the four sites. Please note that number of registrations is capped for this event.

• RACGP CPD Activities
  

• 5 hours of CPD activities directly related to pregnancy care, pre pregnancy care, postnatal period and neonatal CPD activities. This will be reviewed each triennium and affiliates will be notified by email of the requirements.

Supervised Antenatal Session (exclusive of clinic attendances for initial credentialing)

Clinical attachment in antenatal clinic at any of the four hospital sites or their community clinics. Limited capacity at all sites.

Clinical resources

Shared maternity care schedule of tests and visits

The schedule of shared maternity care visits and tests at Sunshine are consistent with the schedule in the Victorian Maternity Record that is used at the hospital. Download a copy of the schedule [PDF, 171KB] (taken from the Shared Guidelines 2021).

Shared Maternity Care Coordinator

The Shared Maternity Care Coordinator is the key person for non-urgent contact for both Shared Maternity Care Affiliates (SMCA) and women enrolled in Shared Maternity Care. The Shared Maternity Care Coordinator responds to issues that arise for women and ensures that non-urgent queries from SMCA are dealt with in a timely manner.

The Shared Maternity Care Coordinator is located at Sunshine Hospital and can be contacted on 9055 3012 or via email [email protected]. Outside of these hours you can contact the Women’s Clinic on 8345 1727. Do not send referrals for obstetric care to the shared maternity care coordinator.

Contact Us

Shared Care Queries
Shared Maternity Care Coordinator
Ph. 9055 3012
[email protected]

For urgent clinical issues please contact Obstetric Registrar on call 9055 2000 or Maternity Assessment Centre (MAC) 9055 2300.

Accreditation inquiries
Jo Silva (Thursdays only)
GP Liaison
Ph: 8345 0493 / 0400 603 967
[email protected] ​