Antenatal care in Australian general practice.

In contrast to the UK, Canada and New Zealand, where general practitioner (GP) involvement in pregnancy care has decreased, GPs in Australia continue to be high providers of antenatal care.2 However, there is very little published research about the antenatal care provided by GPs in Australia. Australia has consistently had lower maternal and perinatal death rates than the majority of comparable Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries over the past decade. This makes Australia one of the safest countries in the world in which to give birth or to be born.3 The World Health Organization recommends that expectant mothers receive antenatal care at least four times during pregnancy.4 Australian guidelines for antenatal care recommend having the first antenatal visit within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy and 7–10 follow-up visits.5 Australia’s record on antenatal care provision is sound, where 87% of women who gave birth in 2013 had seven or more antenatal visits.6 Australian women have a variety of options for antenatal care, many of which involve their GP. The aims of this article are to describe the content of pregnancy-related GP visits, and how pregnancy and pregnancy-related problems are managed by GPs.