The Victorian Perinatal Autopsy Service (VPAS) is a collaboration between three Victorian tertiary maternity services:
- The Royal Women’s Hospital (lead service), Monash Health and Mercy Hospital for Women, and
- their associated laboratory services based at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Monash Pathology and Austin Pathology respectively.
Our vision is to enable best possible care and support for families and clinicians navigating pregnancy and newborn loss.
In 2024, the service has undergone a significant redesign to provide:
- an expert perinatal autopsy service and transportation, and
- a clinical facing unit that coordinates and supports the process of arranging for a deceased baby to come for autopsy.
When you call the VPAS service you will speak with one of our Perinatal Autopsy Coordinators who will lead you through the process of arranging a perinatal autopsy.
The Coordinator will assist clinical teams by checking paperwork that needs to accompany the baby, as well as talking you through how to identify the baby for the procedure. We will ensure you have the best available information and resources to care for the family and to assist them in making this important decision.
In this website section, you will find:
- how to contact us
- our forms and information packs
- guidance on how to have a consent for perinatal post-mortem discussion, and
- other educational and support links.
We will be developing a calendar of upcoming training.
Disclaimer
The clinical information and Clinical Guidelines available on this Website are intended to provide guidance to health care professionals, based on a thorough evaluation of research evidence, on the practical assessment and management of specific clinical issues or situations. The Guidelines allow some flexibility on the part of the health care professional based on the needs of the specific patient for whom they are caring. Whilst appreciable care has been taken in the preparation of Clinical Guidelines, the Women's provides these as a service only and does not warrant the accuracy of these Guidelines. Any representation implied or expressed concerning the efficacy, appropriateness or suitability of any treatment or product is expressly negated. In view of the possibility of human error and / or advances in medical knowledge, the Women's cannot and does not warrant that the information contained in the Guidelines is in every respect accurate or complete. Accordingly, the Women's will not be held responsible or liable for any errors or omissions that may be found in any of the information on this Website. You are encouraged to consult other sources in order to confirm the information contained in any of the Guidelines and, in the event that medical treatment is required, to take professional, expert advice from a legally qualified and appropriately experienced medical practitioner. For practitioners outside the Women’s this material is made available in good faith as a resource for use by health professionals to draw on in developing their own protocols, guided by published medical evidence. In doing so, practitioners should themselves be familiar with the literature and make their own interpretations of it. NOTE: Care should be taken when printing any Clinical Guideline from this Website. Updates to these guidelines will take place as necessary. It is therefore advised that regular visits to this Website will be needed to access the most current version of these guidelines.