Key messages
- Victoria’s network of services means that, for most women and families, maternity and newborn care is provided close to home.
- A tiered system with agreed levels of care for public maternity and newborn services means that women and families can have confidence in the consistency and quality of care they receive.
- Capability frameworks support and guide how planned maternity and newborn care is provided.
- The Regional Maternal and Perinatal Morbidity and Mortality Committees review selected maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity cases at a regional level.
- Due to ongoing work of the Victorian Maternity , the current maternity and newborn capability levels for 2022-23 to 2023-24 remain in place until determination of 2024-25 to 2025-26 levels is completed.
Capability frameworks for maternity and newborn services
The capability frameworks for Victorian maternity and newborn services:
- Describe the requirements for providing safe and high-quality maternity and newborn care for Victorian public and private hospitals, including the:
- required workforce
- infrastructure
- equipment and clinical support services.
- Assist health services to manage different complexities of care, making informed decisions about the:
- resources
- partnerships
- protocols.
- Enable a transparent approach to planning and service development at a local level, taking into account community need.
- Support health service regions and the department to plan and manage the maternity and newborn service system.
Maternity and newborn capability levels
Services operate in a networked system across 6 levels of care:
- Levels 1-3: Local care for healthy women and babies at low risk
- Level 4: Local care for women and babies with some risk requiring additional care
- Level 5-6: Local care for all women and babies. Regional/statewide care for women and babies at high risk
Download the capability levels for 2022-23 to 2023-24 or view tables on this page.
Please note: These capability levels are currently continuing to be in place during the process of determination of 2024-25 to 2025-26 levels is completed. This web page will be updated once finalised.
Changes to services
The policy and funding guidelines represent the system-wide terms and conditions for government-funded healthcare organisations. As outlined in the capability frameworks section of the guidelines, further information regarding planned or unplanned changes, including diversions related to maternity and newborn care, can be found below.
-
Health service Maternity capability level Newborn capability level Mercy Hospital for Women 6 6a Monash Medical Centre Clayton 6 6b The Royal Women's Hospital - Parkville 6 6a Western Health - Sunshine Hospital 6 6a The Royal Children's Hospital not applicable 6b -
Health service Maternity capability level Newborn capability level Albury Wodonga Health 5 4 Barwon Health - University Hospital Geelong 5 5 Bendigo Health 5 4 Eastern Health - Box Hill Hospital 5 4 Grampians Health - Ballarat Base Hospital 5 4 Goulburn Valley Health 5 4 Latrobe Regional Hospital 5 4 Northern Health - The Northern Hospital 5 5 Peninsula Health - Frankston Hospital 5 4 -
Health service Maternity capability level Newborn capability level Central Gippsland Health Service 4 3 Eastern Health - Angliss Hospital 4 3 Mildura Base Hospital 4 3 Monash Health - Casey Hospital 4 4 Monash Hospital - Dandenong Hospital 4 3 Northeast Health Wangaratta 4 3 South West Healthcare Warrnambool 4 3 Monash Health Women's - Sandringham 4 3 Werribee Mercy Hospital 4 4 West Gippsland Healthcare Group - Warragul 4 3 Grampians Health - Horsham 4 3 -
Health service Maternity capability level Newborn capability level Bairnsdale Regional Health Service 3 2 Bass Coast Health - Wonthaggi 3 2 Colac Area Health 3 2 East Grampians Health Service 3 2 Echuca Regional Health 3 2 Gippsland Southern Health Service - Leongatha 3 2 Kilmore and District Hospital 3 2 Mansfield District Hospital 3 2 South Gippsland Hospital - Foster 3 2 South West Healthcare - Camperdown 3 2 Swan Hill District Health 3 2 Western District Health Service 3 2 Western Health - Bacchus Marsh Hospital 3 2 -
Health service Maternity capability level Newborn capability level Dhelkaya Health, Castlemaine 2 2 Maryborough District Health Services 2 2 Portland District Health 2 2 -
Health service Maternity capability level Newborn capability level Alpine Health - Bright 1 1 Alpine Health - Mount Beauty 1 1 Alpine Health - Myrtleford 1 1 Benalla Health 1 1 Casterton Memorial Hospital 1 1 Cohuna District Hospital 1 1 NCN Health - Numurkah 1 1 NCN Health - Cobram 1 1 Robinvale District Health Service 1 1 West Wimmera Health Service - Nhill 1 1 Yarrawonga District Health Service 1 1
Regional Maternal and Perinatal Morbidity and Mortality Committees
Established in 2015, the Regional Maternal and Perinatal Mortality and Morbidity Committees (the Committees) review selected maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity cases at a regional level.
In 2020, the Committees' management moved from the Royal Women’s Hospital to the six level 5 capability regional maternity services (in accordance with the Maternity and Newborn Capability Frameworks).
All rural and regional maternity and newborn services must participate in committee meetings.
| Region | Level 5 Service Lead |
| Barwon South West | Barwon Health |
| Gippsland | Latrobe Regional Health |
| Grampians | Ballarat Health Service |
| Hume Lower (Goulburn) | Goulburn Valley Health |
| Hume Upper (Ovens Murray) | Albury Wodonga Health |
| Loddon Mallee | Bendigo Health |
Regional Maternal and Perinatal Morbidity and Mortality Committee's guidelines.
These guidelines are for Committee members and seek to support the processes and procedures of the Committees.
Reviewed 29 July 2025