Diabetes and endocrine clinic

Introduction

Diabetes is the fastest growing chronic disease in our community with 1 in 20 pregnancies affected by some form of diabetes. Mothers with pre-existing diabetes are particularly at risk of pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, preterm birth, problems of fetal growth and development, and newborn admission to special care nursery.  

The risks for the mother and baby during pregnancy are directly related to blood sugar levels. Achieving good blood sugar control prior to, during and after pregnancy is essential for reducing the risk of birth defects, fetal growth problems, maternal complications and infant complications.

"While we know that good sugar control is crucially important in pregnancy, our Diabetes Clinic team are always looking for better ways to achieve this. This includes using insulin pumps when appropriate, ensuring access to dieticians and diabetes educators at every visit, and hosting a diabetes peer support group,” says Dr Alexis Shub.

Our service

Our endocrine clinic is a multidisciplinary service that specialises in the care of women with diabetes during pregnancy. Women have access to a comprehensive team including obstetric physicians, MFM obstetricians, midwives, fetal ultrasound and monitoring, diabetes educators, and a dietician. We run a peer support group for pregnant women with Type I Diabetes during our clinics.

We also look after women with severe thyroid disease, and other endocrine disorders. We encourage pre-pregnancy consultations and see women for their first antenatal visits as early as possible, ideally before 10 weeks gestation.

For clinicians - who can be referred?

This clinic is for high risk women with type I or type II diabetes prior to pregnancy, women with a new diagnosis of (nongestational) diabetes during pregnancy, or poorly controlled gestational diabetics. We also look after women with severe thyroid disease, and other endocrine disorders.