Fact Sheet: Right care, right place, right time
As you are most likely aware, over the past three years the number of women having a baby in metropolitan Melbourne has risen by 15.5%.
Last year, the Victorian State Government announced a range of measures to address this unexpected increase in demand to ensure all women can access the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
These initiatives aimed to help the three specialist maternity hospitals, the Women’s, Monash Medical Centre and Mercy Hospital for Women, to fulfil their specialist role by prioritising the care of complex and high-risk pregnancies.
The majority of pregnancies do not require tertiary care and all women were encouraged to attend their local maternity hospital for their pregnancy care.
Since the opening of the new Royal Women’s Hospital in July, we have experienced a 35% increase in pregnancy booking inquiries. The hospital has now formalised our maternity booking advice to ensure priority access for:
When referring a high-risk woman to the Women’s, please provide appropriate details of tertiary level need in your referral letter. For your convenience referral templates can be downloaded from our internet site at: www.thewomens.org.au/ReferralsOtherResources .
Referrals for women living outside the Women’s local area that do not clearly demonstrate the need for tertiary level care will be referred back to the woman’s GP.
The fact sheet provides more information on our booking processes and contact details for inquiries. These arrangements will be reviewed in early 2009 and we will keep you updated on any changes.
Sincerely,
Dr Ines Rio
General Practice Liaison Officer
The Royal Women's Hospital
Parkville
Ph: 8345 2064
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
