The establishment of a dedicated COVID-19 testing station at Pinnaroo has been welcomed, but a local health clinic says its staff have been left to resolve issues such as accommodation and bookings.
SA Pathology sent health workers to the border town this week to set up a dedicated testing tent for screening cross-border residents.
But Mallee Border Health Centre operator and nursing practitioner Di Thornton said it was her private practice staff who were left scrambling to sort out logistics, including finding accommodation for a worker and handling telephone bookings.
"The teething problems have been a little frustrating," Ms Thornton said.
She does not know whether the clinic will be compensated for its administrative work.
"[We] give a [patient] list everyday to the people who are doing the testing and they can take it from there. We've had no confirmation of any compensation at this stage," Ms Thornton said.
Test site welcome but overdue
The announcement by SA Health last week that it would open a testing clinic at Pinnaroo was welcomed by local medical staff.
Mallee Border Health Centre and the Mallee Medical Practice have been conducting the testing since the border closure.
Staff at both facilities have been calling for a dedicated testing facility to reduce the impost on their clinics and allow them to concentrate on routine patient care.
"Ever since the cross-border bubble came into being we have called for a dedicated COVID testing station and it's taken an inordinate amount of time to get this up and running," Ms Thornton said.
Cross border residents and essential travellers are required to have a COVID-19 test every seven days.
Worker arrives without accommodation
The lack of planning in the rollout of the testing station operation became apparent when a worker arrived to start work in Pinnaroo this week.
"He arrived on Monday and he didn't know, when he arrived at our clinic, where he was staying and what the logistics were," Ms Thornton said.
"So we had to do a mad scramble on Monday [to help him].
"We felt an obligation to do that rather than let him sit there and say 'well, not our problem'".
The dedicated testing tent will operate from 8:00am to 4:00pm weekdays.
In a statement, SA Pathology said it had established a "collegiate service model" with the Mallee Border Health Centre.
It said, as part of this agreement, SA Pathology would provide the swabbing staff, while the health centre would provide administrative support.
Ms Thornton said she would be relieved when her clinic could return to routine patient care.
"We will all be breathing a huge sigh of relief when this is working like a well-oiled machine," she said.
