Maternity service bypass
All WA metropolitan public hospital maternity services work together to provide safe and timely maternity care.
Due to the very nature of pregnancy, we cannot plan with certainty the number of birthing mothers who may present to our hospital on any given day, so it is important a process is in place to ensure every woman receives the care she requires at all times.
All WA metropolitan public hospitals providing maternity care use a standard operational practice known as ‘bypass’ to manage instances of unusually high demand. This means birthing mothers may be diverted or transferred to another hospital for their continuing care. The decision to divert or transfer birthing mothers is always made in the interest of patient safety.
Understanding the bypass process
Please be assured you will not be transferred to another hospital in any situation where it is not safe to do so.
When you make contact to seek advice or update the midwives on your labour progress, our maternity unit staff will advise you if the unit is on maternity bypass.
The midwife on the telephone will ask you a series of questions, including the reason for your call, to help identify which hospital is best suited to the care you need. The midwife may still ask you to come to your planned hospital first so you can be assessed before a decision is made to transfer your care to another service.
Once a decision has been made to transfer your care, the midwife will advise you which maternity service has accepted your care, where they are located and the phone number for the accepting maternity unit.
Copies of all your medical records will be faxed to the alternative maternity unit and the midwife will provide the receiving unit with a summary of your pregnancy and care so far. Please take your Pregnancy Hand Held records with you.
If you are transferred from our hospital this will be via ambulance at no cost to you. If it is safe to do so, you may be able to make your own way to the alternative service.
Throughout the bypass we will keep in contact with your alternative maternity service and will endeavour to transfer you back into our care once the bypass is over.
No matter where you receive your maternity or labour care, our midwives will provide follow up care after the birth of your baby.
Directions to public hospital maternity units
If you are viewing this page online, click on the QR code to view the hospital location on Google maps.
If you have been provided this information as a printed handout, you can use the QR codes below to locate the following hospitals.
- Open the camera on your smart phone and aim it at the QR code underneath the alternative maternity service you are being diverted/transferred to.
- Your camera will scan the code and prompt you to ‘Open in Google Maps’. Once open, Google Maps will open a map and directions for the relevant hospital or health service.
| Public maternity hospital |
QR to Google Maps |
|---|---|
| Armadale Health Service
3056 Albany Highway, Mt Nasura
|
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| King Edward Memorial Hospital
Bagot Road, Subiaco
|
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Peel Health Campus
|
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Rockingham General Hospital
|
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St John of God Midland
|
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Learn more
Find out more about our maternity services or return to the maternity page.