Karli Mann and her wife were "horrified" when their doctor said he could not see their six-week-old baby because he was not taking any new patients.
"I'm talking fever over 40 degrees [Celsius], lethargic, not eating or drinking," Ms Mann said.
"There have been times when the doctor has been unavailable for two weeks and our response has been, 'he will be fine in two weeks or dead'."
Ms Mann has had trouble finding a GP on other occasions too.
The new mother developed mastitis, an inflammation of the breast usually caused by infection, six times after she gave birth to Harry.
After being unable to find an appointment with any local GP, she saw an online consultant to get a prescription.
The other option was to "wait in hospital in agony for hours to get the same medication".
"I like them [online consultants] because I can get medication and advice but there's no personal connection, no one knows me or my story, or my family," she said.
"It's the only option 99 per cent of the time."
'Errors and confusion'
The ABC has heard concerns from dozens of Sunraysia residents in north-west Victoria who are struggling to receive timely medical care due to a shortage of healthcare workers in the area.
Other residents reported waiting weeks for medical attention and spending hours in emergency departments.
One Merbein woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she waited in the emergency department for hours one night after miscarrying, to "give up, go home and try again the next day".
Another patient, Jo-Ann Strangio, had to wait with a fractured ankle for days to see a medical practitioner and get tests.
"It was a two week wait for an MRI," she said.
"The next problem was getting a referral from the GP in time, which was another nightmare. I got it one hour before my appointment. It was a week of errors and confusion."
Priority primary care clinic
A priority primary care clinic is due to open in the Sunraysia region by the end of April to help address the issue.
The Victorian government last year announced 25 centres would be open for up to 16 hours a day across the state, providing free care for urgent, non-critical conditions such as mild infections, fractures and burns, as well as diagnostic services such as pathology and medical imaging.
Mildura Base Public Hospital chief executive Terry Welch said he expected the primary care clinic would ease the burden on the system.
"The primary care model has been opened in other regional centres and is coming to Mildura, and we are doing that in a terrific partnership with Sunraysia community health," Mr Welch said.
But he said there was more to be done.
"It is one solution, [in] what I think needs to be a really multifaceted approach to deal with such a complex issue," he said.
Murray Primary Health Network chief executive Matt Jones said the centre would help prioritise patients' needs, to ease the burden on both emergency departments and general practitioners.
He said it would mean fewer hours spent in emergency department for non-urgent medical needs, like those described by Red Cliffs man Matt Ryan.
Mr Ryan needed an X-ray after a serious fall to find out if he had any fractured bones.
"I spent the good part of the day in the emergency department," he said.
"I spent the day there to find out there was nothing the doctors could do but refer me to a physio."
Mr Ryan said he took up "space someone else could have used".
Results in the Grampians
A similar priority primary care centre was established in Ballarat last year.
But it did not yield the desired results, according to Grampians Health chief executive Dale Fraser.
Mr Fraser said it did not appear the centre in Ballarat was easing the burden on the emergency department.
"I must admit we haven't seen a pressure reduction," Mr Fraser said.
"I don't honestly think [the centre] has made a significant difference to our ED."
However, a government spokesperson told the ABC that "even in the space of just a few months, the Priority Primary Care Centres are already making a real difference to emergency department demand."
"[It's] a trend we expect to continue as we progressively open a further 15 centres across the state."
