Public maternity hospitals always provide an antenatal clinic to care for women during their pregnancy. These clinics cater for women with pregnancies that are progressing normally, as well as women with health conditions or complications with their pregnancy or their baby(s) and women with multiple pregnancies or premature births (before 37 weeks). Hospital antenatal clinics are staffed by obstetric consultants, registrars, residents and midwives (explained more fully above in caregivers in the
maternity health care system). They also usually make available the services of dieticians, social workers,
genetic counsellors, physiotherapists and childbirth educators as required.
Many large public hospitals also make available specialist antenatal clinics that cater for specific pregnancy health conditions or complications. For example, they may offer a diabetes clinic, or high blood pressure clinic, or a premature labour clinic or multiple pregnancy clinic. The hospital may also run a special clinic for women during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy to monitor and investigate
threatened miscarriage (or this may be dealt with in the hospital's general emergency department).
Pregnancy visits
The birth
Pain relief options
Postnatal care
6-8 week postnatal check
Fees
Pregnancy visits. Routine pregnancy visits are usually provided by a mixture of caregivers including obstetric consultants, registrars, residents and midwives. You may see a different person each time or you may tend to see the one person at several of your visits, especially if your appointment is scheduled on the same day (for example Tuesdays) each time. These caregivers organise (or perform) your blood tests and ultrasounds etc, as required.
Wait times for appointments for antenatal clinics may be long due to the high number of women that attend them, but this will depend on how each individual hospital schedules their appointments. The
first pregnancy visit