Midwife Lead Shared Care – Public Maternity Patients

• Midwives are a profession dedicated to preparing you for the journey from early pregnancy until the birth of your baby and just beyond.
• Upon booking with our obstetrics team you will be provided with comprehensive information about how to care for yourself and your growing baby through your pregnancy.
• Our special appointments card has been specifically designed to map out what you need during your time with us. This will include all your midwife appointments, specialist appointments and ultrasound scans. This will allow you to better understand your and your baby’s journey from the very first visit. You will also be supplied with a National Pregnancy Patient Record – “handheld notes”, which allow comprehensive communication between health practitioners.
• Midwives can prove to be a wealth of knowledge as well as a calming and reassuring companion during your journey to parenthood.
• You can receive up to 10 Medicare rebatable appointments with a midwife each pregnancy.
• With a specialist obstetrician constantly available for an opinion, your needs and your baby’s developmental needs will be monitored and cared for throughout your entire pregnancy.
• Through a partnership between midwife and specialist obstetrician Vestrum has been able to significantly reduce the costs of having the very best and most extensive care available. Please contact us directly to find out more.

Midwifery led shared care is generally only available to women with low risk and some higher risk pregnancies. Please call our reception team and we will be able to advise you. There are clear guidelines for referral to the public Antenatal Doctors’ Clinic at Bunbury Hospital.

You can choose us at Vestrum:

• From the moment you are pregnant
• To have an early pregnancy scan with us at 8 weeks
• Or visit our midwife from 13 weeks gestation

By 20 weeks we would hope that you will be confident and well informed enough to make that decision. This is because Bunbury Hospital would like antenatal patients booked in before 20 weeks. If you have just moved into the area or had difficulty deciding we will always do our best for you.

Vestrum has structured its public delivered shared care package in such a way that the costs are highly comparable to GP obstetrician led care and much less than the private delivered sole care model. It is always worth comparing what each care provider offers along with costs for total care including ultrasound scans before making your final decision.

Please contact Vestrum for a fee schedule for more in depth information, either through our website, by popping into our reception or by giving us a call.

Most uncomplicated deliveries at Bunbury Hospital are undertaken by the excellent midwifery team on the birth suite. The specialist on call team – will oversee your labour and will intervene if specialist help is required and as Bunbury Hospital is a teaching hospital, the obstetric registrar is most likely to deliver your baby. Dr Liddiard is on call at the public hospital once a week.

As a specialist obstetric practice this is certainly something that we can offer you, however we will discuss all your options with you before you choose the one which is right for you.

• Vestrum has experienced midwife led care, meaning you will be well informed throughout your pregnancy.
• A Vestrum Obstetric Specialist will be directly responsible for you throughout your pregnancy, helping to provide specialist insight when needed.
• Vestrum was started by Dr Liddiard and is co-located with Vestrum Ultrasound for Women – a service that aims to provide a high level of diagnostic ultrasound reports for obstetrics and gynaecology patients. Having both ultrasound and antenatal care on site allows seamless continuity of care.
• Our aim is to provide you and your growing baby with well managed care; having a strong influence over all the parts of your care allows us to do so. We endeavour to empower you with the knowledge and confidence that will allow you to make the correct decisions for you.
• When it comes to the time of your baby’s birth, the on call specialist obstetrics team be available to assist if you require emergency intervention.

All midwives, GP Obstetricians and Specialist Obstetricians are able to provide antenatal care. A select group of midwives and GP obstetricians can book you into your chosen hospital for delivery of your baby – you will need to check. Specialists also have admitting rights to the hospitals and with GP Obstetricians, take part in an emergency on-call service. Most specialists are also practising gynaecological surgeons.

Midwives look after low risk pregnancies and GP Obstetricians look after low and some higher risk pregnancies. Specialist obstetricians are able to care for both low and high risk pregnancies and can manage all eventualities during your delivery – although it is worth noting that the cut off for delivery of babies in Bunbury is 34 weeks. Effective management of your pregnancy and these difficulties during birth can influence things such as the health of your baby and how quickly you recover from the birthing process.

Due to their more extensive scope of practice, specialist obstetric care is generally the most expensive model of care. Vestrum offers our midwife services supported directly by a Specialist Obstetrician. We strongly feel that this will provide you with excellent care at a much more affordable level.