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Wellington Hospital gets OK to train super-specialists in treating high-risk pregnancies
Wellington Hospital has become only the second hospital in New Zealand which is accredited to train specialist consultants in the management of high-risk pregnancies.
The training – called Maternal and Fetal Medicine – will begin next year. Senior doctors who have already qualified as Obstetricians/Gynaecologists can then take a further three year course in this sub-specialty which focuses on high risk pregnancies.
“It made sense for us to seek accreditation in this specialist area, as Wellington is the tertiary facility where mothers from across the region come for treatment if their pregnancy is high risk,” says Dr Jeremy Tuohy, C&C DHB’s Clinical Leader of Perinatology and Ultrasound.
“These are the types of pregnancies where either the mother or the unborn baby is at potentially high risk – for example pregnant women with serious medical disorders such as heart disease, or where the unborn child has health issues which will require special attention during and after delivery,” Dr Tuohy said.
Accreditation to train consultants in this sub-specialty was granted by the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists – which has so far approved ten hospitals in Australia and two in New Zealand (Auckland and now Wellington) to do this advanced training.
Dr Tuohy says gaining accreditation to join such a select group of hospitals is a reflection of the fact that Wellington Hospital provides a comprehensive tertiary facility in Women's Health.
“Looking after these women is a huge team effort and accreditation of Wellington hospital as a training centre is only possible because of the close association between the Women's Health Unit, the Wellington Regional Neonatal Unit, the Central Regional Genetics Unit, the Wellington School of Medicine, and numerous other tertiary services within the hospital such as cardiology, haematology, intensive care and anaesthesia, pathology (especially perinatal pathology) renal medicine, and many more.
“This is a positive step not only for the hospital, but also for women in this region who may need this sort of advanced care in the years ahead.
“Becoming a training centre recognises that the services we already have are in themselves sophisticated enough to train specialists - and creates a lot of potential for these trainees to deliver benefits to patients in this region both during and after the conclusion of their training,” Dr Tuohy said.