A second special meeting of the Otago and Southland district health boards will be held on September 17 to further discuss primary health organisations.
The boards had their first joint meeting on the issue in Invercargill last month, but at the end of the meeting, which lasted more than four hours, chief executive Brian Rousseau's withdrew his one Otago-Southland PHO proposal.
It had become clear there was going to be no consensus, with Southland members favouring a Southland organisation.
Mr Rousseau said this week the new meeting, in Dunedin, would be considering a recommendation from him, but he did not yet know what it would be.
"It's no secret my strong preference remains for a single PHO across Otago and Southland, but that is not necessarily what the recommendation will be."
What had emerged from the discussions about the existing situation, in which there were nine PHOs in the two provinces, was the "significant acknowledgement" from everybody that there needed to be some change, he said.
Whatever the proposal was it was critical that it had the support of general practices, he said.
Mornington PHO chief executive Barbara Bridger, said the fact Mr Rousseau did not know what the proposal would be, with the meeting only a fortnight away, was an example of the "woeful" decision-making practices of the board.
She believed Mr Rousseau was still pushing hard for one PHO across both regions.
Ms Bridger said the haste was uncalled for, and she was concerned the board was not waiting to see what recommendations from the recent ministerial review group would be implemented by Mr Ryall.
She would also like to see substantive information provided on the benefits of any board proposal.
This week, Health Minister Tony Ryall announced the Ministry would be seeking expressions of interest by mid-October from community health care providers wanting to establish integrated family health centres.
He envisaged the centres would provide a wide range of services, reducing demand on public hospital acute services and allowing some hospital services to be moved to the community.
Mr Ryall gave no indication of the amount of money which may be allocated for this emphasis on community care, which he said would be his focus in the next financial year.
Mr Rousseau said he did not believe the fact that the PHO situation was not yet sorted out in Otago would affect providers wanting to express an interest in the proposal.
