Perinatal, infant and child deaths must be reported within 28 days to the Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Consultative Council (CCOPMM).
Please note: We no longer accept notifications by email or fax. Please use our new online forms below.
1. Notify us
Access our online reporting form for:
Information to include
- A perinatal death certificate completed for each stillbirth or neonatal death by the attending physician or pathologist.
- Copies of relevant pathology reports.
We may request further information from individual doctors, hospitals, pathology departments, and if necessary the state coroner.
2. Review the death
Health services that provide maternity services should regularly review perinatal deaths in line with the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand’s guidelines for perinatal mortality.
Reviewing perinatal death when the cause is unclear.
3. Submit your review
Submit perinatal death review information to us.
4. CCOPMM case review
Stillbirth and neonatal death
Once all information is in, CCOPMM reviews complex or contentious cases to determine:
- if the death was avoidable
- any contributing factors, including potential deficiencies in clinical care or system-wide faults
- classification
- any recommendations for improvement
- preventable factors such as smoking in pregnancy, maternal age, family violence, and other social and demographic factors.
Post-neonatal infant, child and adolescent death review
CCOPMM receives death certificates from Births, Deaths and Marriages and seeks information from hospital case records, doctors, pathology departments, and coronial services.
CCOPMM reviews complex or contentious cases to:
- classify the death as one of:
- determined at birth
- sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI), including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
- unintentional injury
- acquired disease
- intentional injury
- undetermined.
- identify potential preventable factors
- make recommendations on clinical or system improvements.
What do we do with this information?
CCOPMM reports annually to share the lessons and improvements from perinatal and child deaths in Victoria.
Your information is confidential
The confidentiality of information provided to CCOPMM is strictly protected under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008. CCOPMM members cannot share any documents or information to a third party.
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Page last updated: 10 Dec 2020