In a presentation to the board this week, endoscopy oversight group chairman Andrew Connolly said the service was going well and he would continue to say that, despite criticism from "one or two individuals".
"We’ve never claimed it was perfect, we’ve never hidden from the failings of the past, and we still have work to do," Mr Connolly said.
The most recent Ministry of Health data showed that of 3821 New Zealanders who had waited more than the recommended time for a surveillance colonoscopy, about 30 were in the SDHB region.
Of the 1544 people who had waited longer than guidelines for a symptomatic colonoscopy, just two were in southern, Mr Connolly said.
"There has been a remarkable recovery (since the Covid-19 lockdown caused dozens of postponements)," he said.
"It has not been achieved by denying access, it has been achieved by maximising resource and opportunity, and I think that is a point that has to be hammered ... the urgents have been done and risk sits predominantly in non-urgent."
Mr Connolly, of Auckland, was asked by the board to steer the endoscopy oversight group after earlier penning a hard-hitting report in problems in the service.
"This success is not mine, it is the DHB’s: all I have done is herd a few cats and corral a few people to see a common good," he said.
The board now needed to sustain the current successful position, continue to back Dunedin clinicians helping in Southland, and further expand access to the service, Mr Connolly said.
"There was criticism, and I agree with them, where the bar had been set too high because there was a rigid adherence to referral criteria.
"We have changed that dramatically, but what is still unknown is whether there is still a reluctance by particularly general practices to refer cases or whether they think it is a pointless exercise — I don’t believe that is the case, and I don’t believe it is widespread."
Board chairman Pete Hodgson, who, along with Mr Connolly, has previously criticised those who have questioned whether all the historic issues with the service have been satisfactorily dealt with, said the ongoing criticism was getting harder to explain or understand.
"What drives the board is that unless we can address this endless volley of criticism then we will be at risk of people not wanting to take part in the screening programme."
Questions have previously been raised, notably in a New Zealand Medical Journal article, as to whether the SDHB was ready for the introduction of bowel cancer screening when it began in the region in April 2018.
Mr Connolly said there was no evidence that any patients had been declined a colonoscopy due to the screening programme.
"Screening has added a massive benefit to the public of the SDHB," he said.
"It has prevented a large number of people ever getting bowel cancer ... screening has been an unmitigated success for residents in the southern region."
