Pathologists in South Australia blame salary caps for exploding wait times for COVID-19 tests

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“We’ve gone from around 2,000 tests a day to around 20,000 tests,” he said. “At the height of the clusters in South Africa, we were only touching this point.”

But Professionals Association chief executive Jill McCabe said: “At the moment, SA Pathology is struggling to hire the additional staff needed to handle the increase in COVID testing due to low wages and poor working conditions. “.

She said there had been significant issues of understaffing, overwork and overtime in SA Pathology and the unions had warned the state government of a long-standing underinvestment problem. term in SA Health.

“The members told us that every week there were gaps in the lists,” she said. “This has been going on for years, but the Marshall government has done nothing to address the shortages.”

She said South Australia’s underemployment is the highest in the country and that “if SA Health is to attract quality candidates for jobs, it must offer an attractive salary package.”

Chief Medical Officer of Health Prof Nicola Spurrier said on Monday there had been “a shortage of people in all areas because our international borders have been closed.”

“It’s a function to be a small state with a small population. “

It comes as Victorian public sector pathologists are also voting in a strike ballot, which is expected to end in mid-January, to demand wage increases of 3% per year before the state government moves to a 1.5% salary cap next year.

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