Credentialling of eligible midwives

Key messages

Victoria’s credentialling policy provides guidance to health services on private midwives who are eligible to provide care in public hospitals.
Credentialling committees within health services are responsible for credentialling eligible midwives seeking to provide maternity services on their premises.
An implementation framework helps public health providers establish collaborative arrangements with eligible midwives and private midwifery services.

The Department of Health & Human Services has expanded its credentialling and clinical practice guidelines to accommodate registered private midwives who are eligible to provide care in obstetrics departments in public hospitals.

An addendum to the policy for credentialling and defining the scope of clinical practice for medical practitioners in Victorian health services provides guidance to health services on the minimum requirements for credentialling and defining the scope of practice for eligible midwives.

A framework for collaboration

In partnership with the 3Centres Collaboration (Mercy Hospital for Women, Monash Medical Centre and Royal Women’s Hospital), the department has developed an implementation framework to guide Victorian health services in supporting collaborative arrangements between eligible midwives and obstetric medical practitioners.

Admitting rights and scope of practice for eligible midwives are generally granted at the discretion of individual health services.

The implementation framework outlines policies and regulations, guiding principles, and guidance for health services on arrangements with eligible midwives in six key areas:

planning for collaborative arrangements
credentialling and scope of practice for eligible midwives
admission practices
clinical governance and support
role delineation, care planning and documentation
review, ongoing monitoring and evaluation.

Credentialling of eligible midwives

Each health service’s credentialling committee is responsible for credentialling eligible midwives seeking to provide private maternity services on their premises. Health services should ensure that:

their policies and processes for credentialling midwives and defining their scope of practice are equitable and consistent with those used for other health practitioners
they inform eligible midwives of their verification and re-credentialling policies and procedures at the time of their initial credentialling
the credentialling committee has senior midwifery representation to ensure a peer-based process for eligible midwives
re-credentialling occurs 12 months after a midwife’s initial credentialling, and an appropriate process and timeframe are determined for further re-credentialling
eligible midwives’ registration and insurance are checked on an annual basis.