SA Health is investigating, after a single mother claims she and her young son were turned away from an emergency department because she couldn't afford to pay a gap fee.
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00:00A single mother, working two jobs, with a son in agony.
00:05He spent about an hour just inconsolably crying, the way that I was holding him wasn't working,
00:12I was trying to talk to him, it wasn't working, he was in a lot of pain.
00:15Bianca Dannenberg-Turner rushed her son Charlie to Clare Hospital on Sunday night, after he
00:20complained of pain in his perforated eardrum.
00:23But she says a doctor refused to see the boy, after she told a nurse that she wouldn't be
00:27able to pay the $42 gap for another three days.
00:31I was angry for my son, he was in a lot of pain and I couldn't provide him with any more
00:36help than what I had at home, and yeah, the closest hospital should have been able to
00:43see him.
00:44SA Health claims Charlie was triaged as non-urgent and wasn't refused service.
00:49Like some other regional hospitals, Clare's emergency department runs by pulling in private
00:54doctors from nearby practices, causing attendees to be charged as private GP patients.
01:00SA Health has apologised for a lack of communication around the event, but says the option for
01:05a later payment should have been offered.
01:07The normal practice is that it can be billed and that would have been the option given
01:13to the mother.
01:15Local Liberal MP Penny Pratt says with local cost of living pressures in the community,
01:20SA Health should be bringing salaried doctors into Clare's emergency department.
01:24Bigger hospitals like Port Pirie and Port Augusta have different models where doctors
01:29are permanently available to country hospitals.
01:33I would like to see that for Clare.
01:34To date, the model that we have in place for Clare has been appropriate for the level of
01:41demand.
01:42Health Minister Chris Picton told the ABC the government is working to improve the model
01:46of the regional medical workforce.
01:49For more information visit www.sa.gov.au