At Sunningdale Medical Centre, preventative care forms part of our broader general practice services, alongside supervised intravenous infusions for patients who require treatment for certain deficiencies and medical conditions. This means your ongoing monitoring and treatment can remain connected to your wider healthcare plan.
What Does Preventative Care Involve?
Preventative care focuses on monitoring your health before symptoms become more significant. Depending on your age, medical history and individual risk factors, your GP may recommend routine health assessments, blood tests or ongoing monitoring to keep track of important changes.
These appointments also give you an opportunity to discuss changes in your health, lifestyle or family history and determine whether further investigation may be appropriate.
How Can Preventative Care Support Your Long-Term Health?
Regular health reviews can help your doctor build a clearer picture of your health over time rather than relying on a single appointment when you are unwell.
Where a potential concern is identified, your GP can recommend suitable testing, monitoring or treatment and review your progress as needed. Preventative care can also form part of the ongoing management of existing health conditions.
What Infusions Are Offered?
We provide intravenous iron infusions for patients with significant iron deficiency, and bisphosphonate infusions for bone health conditions such as osteoporosis. Your doctor will confirm whether an infusion is the right approach based on your blood results and history, and will explain the alternatives considered along the way.
Who Might Be Referred For An Infusion?
Infusion therapy is generally considered when oral treatment has not resolved a deficiency, when a patient cannot tolerate tablets, or when a bone health condition calls for a scheduled infusion rather than daily medication. Your doctor will explain why an infusion is being recommended in your specific case before booking you in.
What Happens During An Infusion Appointment?
You will be seated comfortably while the infusion runs, with a member of our clinical team monitoring you throughout. Depending on the type of infusion, this can take anywhere from thirty minutes to a couple of hours, and you are welcome to bring something to read or listen to while you wait.
What Should You Do Before And After?
Eat a light meal before your appointment and stay hydrated on the day. Mild side effects such as tiredness are possible afterwards, so where practical, arrange for a quiet rest of the day rather than scheduling something demanding straight after your infusion. Arranging a lift home is also worth considering for longer infusions.
What Are Realistic Expectations?
Iron and bone health infusions generally require more than one session to reach target levels, and your doctor will set out a schedule based on your specific blood results and response to treatment, reviewing this as you go rather than committing you to a fixed number of sessions upfront.
How Does This Fit With Your Wider Care?
Both preventative care and infusion therapy work best when considered as part of your wider healthcare plan.
Your GP can continue to monitor relevant blood results, review your response to treatment and recommend further investigations or follow-up where necessary. This allows preventative monitoring, treatment and ongoing general practice care to remain connected rather than being managed in isolation.
Medical Aid And Billing
Infusion costs, including the medication itself and the time spent under observation, are billed according to your medical aid scheme's specific benefits. Our reception team can help clarify what to expect before your first session.