South Australian Health Minister Chris Picton has defended a decision to offer an annual salary between $475,763 and $752,224 for a general practitioner in the state's Mallee region.
The SA Health job advertisement, currently open, was looking for a skilled specialist to take up the job to fill dire doctor shortages in the Lameroo and Pinnaroo area.
Mr Picton said the doctor would service the medical practice and the hospital, and it made more sense than paying a locum thousands of dollars a day.
"It's better for the health of the community but also for taxpayers' dollars if we can get salary people into many of these places rather than pay escalating locum fees," Mr Picton said.
"Doctors have a high degree of skills, there's competitive environments to secure these doctors.
"Right across SA Health, we do have to pay significant amounts of money to get the best doctors into our hospitals."
The Minister said a new arrangement with the federal government allowed the state to access Medicare and hospital funding to directly employ GPs in the system.
"It's a recognition we do need to have new models to try to get doctors into areas where it's more difficult to attract doctors," he said.
"In the West Coast just this week we have a new arrangement trying to get doctors into Wudinna, to get a GP servicing that area three days a week.
"We're working around the clock to try to find innovative solutions to get GPs into some of our smaller communities where it's harder to attract people."
'How many have you turned away today?'
The demand for appointments was high in SA's Mallee region, with Pinnaroo and Lameroo the two main service hubs for the region.
Nurse practitioner Di Thornton runs the Mallee Border Health Centre and travels between Pinnaroo and the Victorian towns of Murrayville and Underbool.
On some days she was the only medical professional taking appointments in the Mallee, leading to her schedule being double or triple booked.
She said the high turnover of doctors in the region had led to patients not receiving continuity of care.
"That's where people fall through the gaps and that's where continuity of care is really important."
Ms Thornton added she found it difficult as a medical practitioner to turn patients away when the clinic was fully booked.
"It's best that I don't know their names," she said.
"I spoke to the receptionist and I asked, 'How many have you turned away today?' and she said, 'Five,' — and that's before lunchtime."
