A medical professional says paying GPs to take on hospital patients isn't sustainable

The DHB has offered 250 dollars to GPs for each Middlemore Hospital patient they see on Friday evening and weekend days - and 350 dollars each for weekend nights - to ease pressure on the ED.

The College of GPs' Doctor Bryan Betty says 11 percent of our population is in South Auckland - but it has only six percent of the GPs.

But he says there's pressure on GPs countrywide.

Betty says it's a problem that's been growing over the past two decades and is starting to bite post-Covid.