Chairwoman Anne Kolbe, an Auckland paediatric surgeon, is receiving a fee of $655 for every day she spends on panel work, while members Adelaide neurosurgeon Glenn McCulloch and consumer advocate David Russell each qualify for a $415 fee.
National Health Board project manager David Graham said the fees were in line with those specified by the Cabinet for members of statutory and other bodies appointed by the Crown.
The fees would apply to those days when the panel was conducting meetings as well as the days when they were involved in panel business at their separate locations.
The members would submit a claim for their fees.
Mr Graham said the overall panel costs had not been budgeted separately from normal National Health Board running costs and would be treated as a cost to the board as part of its activities in assisting district health boards to plan for future health services.
No estimate of what the total cost was expected to be was available.
At this stage, no dates have been given for the panel's return trips to Dunedin and Christchurch before it delivers its report to acting Director-general of Health Andrew Bridgman at the end of October.
No date has been announced for Mr Bridgman's decision.
The panel has also indicated it wishes to meet board representatives from South Island boards outside Southern and Canterbury, but no dates have been given for that, either.
