What we do
The Melbourne Fetal Assessment Centre has been established with a core group of medical specialists who cover all aspects of the care of a family who have a pregnancy with a fetal complication. Other specialists not part of the core group are regularly invited to participate in order to access the greatest expertise available.

The Melbourne Fetal Assessment Centre acts in a consultative role providing information to the family and the referring doctor (who is always invited to participate fully in any discussions). Management of the pregnancy remains under the control of the referring doctor unless the Centre is asked to take over the management of a particular pregnancy.

The core members of the Melbourne Fetal Assessment Centre are listed below and may be contacted by email at info@mfac.com.au.

A new approach to clinical diagnosis and management
The Melbourne Fetal Assessment Centre offers a new approach to clinical diagnosis and management for non-hospital patients. This is the first privately run Australian centre dedicated to providing multi-disciplinary management to couples in whom a fetal abnormality has been diagnosed. The diagnosis of fetal abnormalities and the counselling of couples to provide reliable information on outcome is an increasingly complex discipline. It relies on combining the expertise of Obstetrical Ultrasonologists, Obstetricians, Medical Geneticists, Counsellors, Paediatricians from varied specialties and occasionally other professionals. The skills of specialists with an interest in prenatal care are now combined in this one Centre.

The Centre complements your obstetrician's care
This Centre is structured to enhance, not compete with, the obstetrician's/managing doctor's care. The managing doctor will have every opportunity to attend the discussions regarding his or her patient and contribute to this co-ordinated approach to patient management. We would envisage most patients will attend the centre only once or twice. Continued management will always be with the referring doctor unless he/she requests otherwise.

Private patients, in whom a fetal abnormality is diagnosed, until now have often needed to visit a number of doctors in order to gain the best understanding of likely prognosis. For example, when there is mild to moderate ventriculomegaly (water on the brain), in addition to attending their Obstetrician and Ultrasonologist the couple may visit a Neurologist or Neurosurgeon, a Medical Geneticist, Counsellor and possibly a Neonatologist. Even when there is consensus regarding prognosis and management (and there is not always consensus) couples can pick up small nuances of differences of opinion that can be an impediment to them focusing on the main issues.

Detailed information available
Couples have access to detailed information regarding abnormalities on the Internet and elsewhere. They are aware of differences of opinion regarding prognosis and management. Such differences may at times be better resolved by a group interview. When appropriate, couples will be offered the opportunity of either interviewing/having discussions with a group of relevant doctors, or alternatively an interview with the relevant doctors on an individual basis.