Shared Maternity Care – for public patients

Requests for female practitioners

Patients at JHC will be seen by medical practitioners on the basis of their clinical need, without reference to the medical practitioner’s gender, age, religion, race or nationality. JHC doctors are well qualified medical practitioners who conduct themselves professionally and the Hospital does not discriminate between doctors on the basis of the above criteria.

The information here and contained in the shared care guideline should be made clear to patients who book at JHC.

Women who elect shared maternity care will see their shared maternity care partner (GP and/or endorsed midwife) for most of their antenatal care, with the hospital providing care during labour and immediately after birth.

Post-natal care will be managed by the either the shared maternity care partner or the hospital. The schedule of visits is below.

For low risk women who are referred to JHC for public maternity care, the first visit is usually at 14-20 weeks gestation. If GPs are unsure of a woman’s risk, they can refer to JHC’s public Antenatal Clinic, where staff will evaluate the risk.

JHC is able to care for women with a Body Mass Index (BMI) up to 40 at the time of their booking initial hospital visit.

High risk antenatal patients may be referred directly to JHC Antenatal Clinic or King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH). Please refer early as these women may need to be seen at an earlier gestation.

The table above details the recommended practice for women with low risk pregnancies undertaking shared care. More frequent visits may be relevant depending on the clinical situation.

Please note: women may not be seen by a doctor at JHC’s public Antenatal Clinic.

The guidelines for shared maternity care provide shared maternity care partners with concise, up-to-date guidelines.

The guidelines were originally developed in 2003 by the Shared Care Coordinating Group, consisting of representatives from KEMH and the Perth Central Coastal Division of General Practice.

They were updated in 2007 and JHC adopted and re-modified them in 2018 to fulfil the criteria of modernised Shared Care Maternity guidelines.

Below are the GP and midwives who are currently registered as shared maternity care partners with Joondalup Health Campus.

• Perth Pregnancy Clinic (PPC)
• Perth Maternity
• Balcatta Family Practice
• Quinns Mindarie

To become a shared care partner, simply complete the application form here.

If you have any queries regarding these guidelines or you would like to partner with JHC to provide shared care services, the Clinical Midwifery Manager (Antenatal) can be contacted on (08) 9400 9486 from 8.00am to 3.00pm Monday to Friday or fax (08) 9400 9073.

For urgent issues the relevant staff member can be called on (08) 9400 9400. Simply ask the JHC switchboard to put you through to one of the following, depending on your patient’s situation:

• For gestation less than 20 weeks – Gynaecology registrar
• For gestation over 20 weeks – Obstetric registrar
• For gynaecology issues – Gynaecology registrar

• Royal Australian College of GPs Conjoint Committee for the Diploma of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (CCDOG) details can be found here
• Metropolitan and rural divisions of General Practice have been consulted on the implementation of this policy. These guidelines are also available at www.wnhs.health.wa.gov.au under Health Professionals Manuals and Directories
• NMHS Antenatal Shared Care Guidelines for General Practitioners