Maternity group practice

Overview

In the Maternity Group Practice model of care, midwives work in pairs to care for you during pregnancy, labour and after you have had your baby. Your appointments before the birth will occur on Tuesdays, with morning and afternoon availability.

When you go into labour, you can call your Primary care midwife directly and they will meet you at Mercy Hospital for Women in Heidelberg.

Following discharge from the hospital, your midwives will visit you at home for up to two weeks.

Maternity Group Practice (MGP) is a model of care that emphasises continuity of care. Midwives work in pairs within a larger team and provide care for you during pregnancy, labour and postnatally. This enables you to form a relationship with your known midwife antenatally who will then attend your labour and birth and see you at home postnatally for up to 2 weeks.

MGP model is a very popular model of care and has a large waitlist of women each month. If you are wanting to be referred to the MGP model of care it is important you let your GP know as soon as possible.

Evidence supports better outcomes for women in continuity of care models. This includes lower caesarean rates, induction of labour rates and successful breastfeeding rates.
Our team are highly motivated at helping women achieve these goals.

Homebirth:

Mercy Hospital for Women is now offering publicly funded homebirth through their MGP program with the backup of the hospital. Homebirth can be considered for women who have a low risk pregnancy and who meet a strict criteria. You will be cared for by MGP midwives who are trained in providing care at home and trained in managing emergency scenarios at home, we bring the relevant equipment with us to your house.

Some of the criteria for approval for homebirth with MGP include:
– low risk pregnancy with no concern that a homebirth would be unsafe
– you live within 30 minutes of Mercy Hospital for Women (on WAZE at 12pm midday)
– you haven’t had a previous caesarean section or other surgery to your uterus
– you are only having 1 baby
– you labour starts after 37 weeks and before 41 weeks and 6 days of pregnancy
– your previous births have been straight forward with no complications
– you have an Ambulance Victoria membership
– you consent to being transferred in to Mercy Hospital for Women if your MGP midwife decides you need to
– you are aware of the risks associated with homebirth and have signed a consent form for homebirth

For the full list of criteria you need to meet for homebirth please see Homebirth Criteria

Please note that is is a free program as long as you are covered by medicare. Other outlying costs are an Ambulance Victoria membership. If you wish to hire a pool or TENS machine, speak to your midwife about these other outlying costs.

If you are interested in having a homebirth with MGP at mercy, please email [email protected] and speak to your GP.

Nanak Baban Murrup:

“Nurturing Mothers Spirit”

Within MGP there is a team of midwives who care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. The team is committed to providing culturally safe and supportive care. The team work closely with the Aboriginal Liaison Officers who are able to provide support throughout your care. This model is an all risk model and has no limitations to who we can care for based on complications of pregnancy or where you live. Nangnak Baban Murrup MGP provides multidisciplinary care and midwives are able to continue caring for clients who require care from other specialist clinics. Families can also elect to have shared care with the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service if they wish.