The board's mental health services have been in the spotlight this year.
Staff shortages have seen its acute wards struggling to cope with demand, forcing the reduction of some non-acute services.
Four beds at the Wakari Hospital rehabilitation ward remain closed, although the community day programmes which had been reduced, have been back to normal since the middle of last month.
There has also been disquiet that planned spending last year on new community-based services, proposed following the 2004 Otago mental health review, has been held up because of concerns about whether long-term funding will be available for them.
It now seems a national review of mental health funding by the Ministry of Health will be needed before the plans proceed.
One of those services, planned by the Plunket Society for women suffering from post-natal depression, will go ahead, although in a limited fashion, as a result of community fundraising.
Mental health and community services group manager Elaine Chisnall said the review was looking at whether the way the board delivered its services was meeting the needs of those using them and how it would cater for them in the future.
A series of workshops, attended by about 90 people, including some service users and their families, board staff, community mental health providers, primary health organisations, police and other interested groups, looked at case studies of patients moving through mental health services.
One of the areas people agreed needed to be addressed was the referral process, which contained too many steps and some duplication.
Among the principles identified as important were that the service was consumer focused, co-ordinated to ensure continuity of care, flexible, based on need, accessible, promoted early intervention and was accountable.
A report from the board's funding and planning division, which will be considered by the community and public health advisory committee tomorrow, says it was agreed that, while there had been some tangible achievements following the mental health review of 2004, considerable work was still needed to integrate community and hospital services.
Mrs Chisnall said a consultation document on the possible future shape of services was expected to go out later this year, but it was not known at this stage when any board decisions likely to result from that would be made.
The board has had some reduction in mental health nursing vacancies, which have been the highest within the board services for some time, with nine new registered nurses being employed in the past five months and another four starting this month.
To open the beds closed in the rehabilitation ward at Wakari Hospital, at least two more registered nurses would be needed, Mrs Chisnall said.
