Yes, you need a referral from your GP. This is as the doctor at HESC is there simply to prescribe and administer iron. You need to be investigated as to the cause of your iron deficiency and followed up around this by your regular doctor. This is not a service offered by the doctor doing the infusion. Your referral needs to include up to date blood tests and treatment to date of your iron deficiency. It also needs to include recent general blood tests and a summary of other medical conditions. A comprehensive referral will maximise the chance of your infusion being able to be done the same day you are first seen.
You will see our friendly GP Dr Christina Illing . She is a fully trained GP and a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, however her work at HESC is limited to purely administering iron. She does not offer any regular GP work at this location.
You will be booked in to see Dr Christina Illing, who will go through your referral and general health and then calculate the required dosage of iron. If both she and you are happy to proceed with the iron infusion, she will give you a prescription for the iron medication to collect from a local pharmacy who keep it in stock. You will then return with the medication for the iron to be given on the same day. Occasionally, there may be concerns that will prevent your infusion happening on the initial day. In this case, we will look to address these issues and rebook you on another day for the infusion.
Occasionally, you will not be able to be given the iron infusion on the day of your first appointment. This may be for a variety of reasons to do with your health. In this situation, it can be planned for another day.
There is also a limit on how much iron can be given in one day, so if you need more than this, then you will have to return on another day for another infusion.
After your infusion, you will be directed to follow up with your regular GP for monitoring of your iron levels and to continue to address the cause of your iron deficiency. It is very important to have a regular GP that you follow up with to provide the best health care.
