GP co-payment could triple SA wait times

Emergency department waiting times could triple in South Australia under the federal government's proposed GP co-payment, health officials say.

SA Health deputy chief executive Steve Archer told a Senate committee hearing in Adelaide on Thursday that the $7 GP co-payment could cost the state government an extra $80 million per year.

The department is bracing for an extra 290,000 emergency department presentations per year from patients who would otherwise have seen their GP.

This was expected to triple the average emergency department waiting time from 20 minutes to 66 minutes, Mr Archer said.

But Federal Health Minister Peter Dutton said on Wednesday that states could apply co-payment at emergency departments as a sensible solution to stop unnecessary presentations.

He said it was already a great frustration for doctors that people presented to emergency departments with conditions better suited to GP visits.

"There is a big problem that already exists and we said as part of our co-payment announcement that we think it would be sensible for the states and territories to consider implementing a co-payment to stop some of those GP-type presentations and I think that is perfectly sensible," he said.

South Australian Greens Senator Penny Wright said submissions from health experts and community groups had confirmed the co-payment would disproportionately hurt the poor.

"The end result is that people will suffer needlessly. Some will lose their lives and we will all pay more," she said in a statement.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation SA chief executive Elizabeth Dabars said the federal government's claims that health care spending was out of control didn't stand up under scrutiny.

The government has been unable to pass the co-payment through the Senate with Labor, the Palmer United Party and the Greens all opposed to it.

Emergency departments in NSW could be forced to deal with an extra half a million people a year if the co-payment was introduced, according to internal health department documents.