At a special meeting in June, Dunedin General Practitioners Society and After Hours Guild members voted to accept a deferral in payment for their services.
Guild chairman Dr Kim Maiai was not willing to give details of the centre's financial situation other than to say it had involved "a significant downturn in demand that we needed to address".
Two redundancies had resulted, involving a mix of clinical and managerial staff, he said.
"We've been looking at the services we offer and, I guess, cutting our cloth accordingly."
The deferral in payment does not apply to the doctors who work day shift during the working week, but to those who cover the after-hours shifts.
Dr Maiai said it was hoped the situation was temporary.
The decision to defer payment had not come "without some consternation", but all GPs understood they had a duty of care to their patients and remained committed to providing a service to the community, he said.
Working without payment was not unheard of in the centre.
Guild members had done that for the centre's first three years.
In June, the centre announced it had spent $50,000 upgrading its fracture clinic, a move which it hoped would allow it to treat almost 200 extra patients a month.
Plans for a more extensive revamp of the centre, which had been expected to take place late last year for an undisclosed sum, were put on hold.
The centre works as a co-operative venture among about 65 Dunedin doctors (excluding those who work for the Mornington Health Centre which provides its own after-hours care).
The Otago Daily Times understands some of the doctors at the centre have not been happy with the deferred payment arrangement and would have preferred an increase in fees.
Some doctors have traditionally chosen to use the $60-an-hour payment from the centre for their services to pay other doctors to cover their shifts, topping up that amount by about another $60 an hour. Now they are not receiving a payment, they cannot afford to pay, and are having to undertake shifts themselves, a situation which does not suit them or the doctors they were previously paying.
Dr Maiai said he was expecting some "static" about the deferred payments issue at the guild's annual meeting on Tuesday.
Up-to-date attendance figures for the centre were not available yesterday as the practice manager Belinda Watkins was on sick leave, but numbers treated at the centre have been steadily increasing in recent years.
In the year to March last year, visits totalled 30,401, up 2500 from the previous year.
The Well Dunedin Primary Health Organisation chief executive Sandy Baines said last week the organisation had agreed in principle to meet any operational shortfalls of the centre, but no funds had been required to date.
At a glance
Dunedin Urgent Doctors and Accident CentreRun as a co-operative by Dunedin general practitioners.
Doctors covering after-hours shifts usually paid $60 an hour.
Patient charges range from $20 (under 6) to $75 (adults, without a community services or high-user card).
Charges for ACC-related visits range from $15 (under 6) to $40 (adults).
Patients from practices which are not part of the co-operative pay more.
