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Anaesthetics

The Royal Women's Hospital Department of Anaesthesia has a long history of teaching, education and innovation. Founded in 1951by Dr Kevin McCaul, it was the first obstetric anaesthesia department in Australia. The department has a commitment to teaching and improving anaesthesia for obstetric patients.

Alcohol and Drug Service

The Women's Alcohol and Drug Service (WADS) provides medical care, counselling and support to women with complex substance use, dependence and assessment and care of infants exposed to drugs and alcohol during  pregnancy.

WADS is the only state-wide drug and alcohol service providing specialist clinical services to pregnant women with complex substance use dependence.

We have a multidisciplinary team approach to advance their health and well-being and the medical needs of their infants. Our support is further enhanced through the provision of secondary consultation, including a 24 hour on-call obstetric service.

The service also offers training targeted to acute and primary health services and the community sector.

This unit is involved in the following specialities:

  • Addiction medicine
  • Drug and alcohol counselling and assessment
  • Obstetric care
  • Paediatric care
  • Assessing and caring for babies with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
  • Infant Home Based Withdrawal Program
  • Methadone Stabilisation Program
  • Mental health assessment
  • Nutritional care
  • Pharmaceutical  advice and assessment
  • Pregnant women with complex substance use

For more information see the Women’s Alcohol & Drug Service on this website.

Dermatology

The Vulvar Disorders and Dermatology clinic provides gynaecological and dermatological opinion and management of chronic vulvar  disorders.

The clinic also uses physiotherapy to treat vulvar pain syndromes and also provides sexual counselling when required to patients.

Specialities:

  • Dermatological assessment
  • Gynaecological  and colposcopic assessment
  • Psychosexual  assessment
  • Physiotherapy
  • Vulvar biopsies
  • VuIvar surgery organised

For more information see Vulvar Disorders and Dermatology clinic on this website.

Emergency Medicine

The Women's Emergency Care (WEC) provides direct clinical primary care for women presenting with acute obstetric and gynaecological problems and newborns with a range of neonatal conditions. The department is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Immediate assessment and intervention for women presenting with conditions relating specifically to Maternity and Women's Health; for example, assessment of bleeding in early pregnancy, pelvic pain, breast conditions, emergency contraception and abnormal vaginal bleeding.

Specialities:

  • Assessment and management of acute obstetric and emergency gynaecological problems
  • Assessment of neonates presenting with a range of medical issues, noting this is confined to neonates delivered at the Women's and re-presenting within two weeks of age with birth-related problems
  • Gynaecologica l care of women across a spectrum of age
  • Clinical support of sexual assault victim/survivors in collaboration with Centre Against Sexual Assault counsellor/advocates
  • An assessment centre for monitoring,assessing women in early labour and antenatal conditions
  • An Early Pregnancy Assessment Service (EPAS) to provide coordinated and specialised care of women experiencing pain or bleeding in early pregnancy

For more information see Women’s Emergency Care on this website.

Abortion & Contraception Service

The Abortion & Contraception Service provide surgical and medical abortion services in accordance with state legislation.

Abortion and contraception services are provided as part of comprehensive, high-quality reproductive healthcare health care.

For more information see Abortion & Contraception Services on this website.

Gynaecology

The Royal Women's Hospital cares for women with complex gynaecological problems from across the state, as well as offering general Gynaecology Services for local patients. The Women's is a specialist facility serving all of Victoria for tertiary (complicated) gynaecology problems. Gynaecology issues include problems such as  period (menstrual) pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, endometriosis, fibroids, pelvic pain, infertility, or pelvic floor problems causing incontinence or prolapse and the  insertion and removal of long-acting forms of contraception. Diagnosis, treatment, advice and information for gynaecology problems are offered by the unit and depending on the condition, treatment might vary from lifestyle modifications to physiotherapy exercises to conservative medical management to surgery.

For more information for health professionals see Gynaecology on this website.

Gynaeoncology

The Oncology/Dysplasia service at the Women's strives to provide the best and most up to date multidisciplinary care to women and their family when diagnosed with a gynaecological cancer or cancer related condition.

The Oncology/Dysplasia Service at The Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne is one of the three Gynaecological Cancer Centres for Victoria and the largest Dysplasia Service for the State. The service cares for approximately 300 new cases of gynaecological malignancy each year, averaging 50 new referrals each month. It has an established research trials portfolio and is a member of Cancer Trials Australia.

As well as the collaborations through the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre development,the Oncology/Dysplasia Service has a number of established connections with Melbourne Health, Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Western Health, Barwon Health, Border Oncology and the Victorian Cytology Service through clinical and research collaborations.

For more information see Oncology on this website.

Maternity

The Women's is Australia's largest public maternity hospital. Primary and tertiary maternity care is provided at the hospital. The Women's is a centre of excellence for perinatal care, research and education, with more than 7,000 births per year.

The Women's has four multidisciplinary Teams. Each Team provides care for approximately 1,600 - 1,700 of the women booked for maternity care, including a mix of high, medium and low risk pregnancies. The Team covers the whole continuum of care from antenatal care, birth, postnatal care and through to home-based visits.

Our aim is for women to see the same team of staff throughout their pregnancy, birthing and after birth experience. Each team is managed by a midwife and obstetrician in partnership.

Each of the four Maternity teams include: obstetricians, midwives, GPs, physicians, psychiatrists, haematologists, dieticians, physiotherapists, social workers,pharmacists, specialist midwives, clinic co-ordinators,birth centre staff, childbirth educators, breastfeeding educators, and emergency care staff.

As a tertiary (complex care) hospital we not only care for women with healthy pregnancies, we also care for women from across the state with complex or high-risk pregnancies and fertility challenges. Maternity Services provide care and specialist treatment with women who have the following:

  • Early labour and birth
  • Multiple pregnancy (twins/triplets, and more)
  • Pre-eclampsia
  • Recurrent miscarriages
  • Associated infectious diseases
  • Alcohol and drug issues
  • Diabetes during pregnancy
  • Anxiety and depression

For more information see Maternity on this website.

Mental Health

The Centre for Women's Mental Health provides specialist care to more than 800 patients at the Women's every year. Our mental health team includes psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, an infant mental health clinician and a psychiatric consultation­ liaison nurse.

We provide a range of individual and group-based treatments for our patients in four key areas:

  • Mental health in pregnancy
  • Mental health in parenthood
  • Mental health and cancer
  • Mental health and successful ageing

The Centre for Women's Mental Health provides assessment and treatment for women who are current patients of the Women's and who have a comorbid mental health problem.

For more information see Mental Health on this website.

Neonatal

The unit is a large unit and one of the major L3 tertiary hospitals in Victoria. There are over 30 Junior Medical staff in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. Admissions are on average 80 babies per month. We are a family centred unit and promote parent involvement in the care of their baby.

Our multidisciplinary team work closely on unit operational and strategic issues. Our Directors, Consultants and Senior Nurse Managers have an extensive range of experience and skills and constantly strive for continuity, consistency and engagement for the improvement  in the quality of care provided to our babies and their families.

For more information see Neonatal Services on this website.

Radiology and Ultrasound

The Pauline Gandel Women's Imaging Centre provides a tertiary, complex integrated Radiology and Ultrasound service to patients.

Our diagnostic imaging centre houses two highly specialised units, Radiology & Gynaecology/Obstetric Ultrasound. We provide high level complex, primary through quaternary care to both inpatients and outpatients of the Women's. We also provide gynaecological and obstetric procedures for those patients referred from other health care providers seeking tertiary imaging and  diagnoses.

The Women's Ultrasound Service is a highly specialised Obstetric and Gynaecological ultrasound service offering Services which include Amniocentesis, CVS, Fetal Blood Sampling, IUT procedures as well as gynaecological procedures including Cyst Aspiration and Saline Infusions. We do not offer routine pregnancy and gynaecological scanning.

The Women's Ultrasound Service provides the following highly specialised services at a tertiary and quaternary level -

  • Pregnancy screening for early pregnancy complications
  • Down screening - diabetics and twins
  • Abnormality scanning
  • Growth scanning
  • Tubal assessments

For more information see Radiology & Ultrasound on this website.

Reproductive Services

The Royal Women's Hospital provides a comprehensive service for women requiring assistance, support or treatment; for infertility and potential infertility.

We offer assistance with Counselling for women with impaired fertility, Support groups for women experiencing fertility issues,Investigation of infertility, Assistance for couples to achieve a pregnancy through IVF, artificial insemination, donor insemination and ovulation induction and Protecting fertility prior to treatments which may damage fertility, such as chemotherapy

Several infertility clinics are provided at the Women's, and surgery is available if needed. Our fertility services are available for all women from adolescence through to menopause.

For more information see Reproductive Services on this website.

Urogynaecology

The Urogynaecology Service at the Women 's provides multidisciplinary assessment and treatment for women with pelvic floor dysfunction. Female pelvic floor dysfunction encompasses a variety of conditions such as urinary incontinence, pelvic organ  prolapse and lower bowel problems, such as difficulty with defecation and anal incontinence.

The Urogynaecology Service provides care and specialist treatment with women who have the following:

  • Interstitial cystitis
  • Recurrent UTls
  • Bladder pain, frequency, urgency, nocturnia
  • Fistulae
  • Urethral structure, caruncles
  • Voiding difficulties
  • Urodynamic assessment of urinary incontinence
  • Outpatient cystoscopy for specific bladder problems
  • A range of management options from conservative management to surgery
  • 3DUSS
  • Urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse that cannot be managed in primary care

For more information see Urogynaecology on this website.

Check our current vacancies to see further information about available positions and to apply.