Speaking at the board's hospitals' advisory committee meeting in Invercargill this week, Joe Butterfield said an extra six months seemed an inordinate amount of time to wait when the board knew the service was under pressure.
He was responding to a report from chief operating officer (Otago) Vivian Blake that the redevelopment of the area could be delayed for another six months to allow the completion of work on how the service would be delivered.
Given that the service had been waiting several years now, she did not consider the extra time would be too much of an issue.
She said she took full responsibility for the delay.
Earlier, it had been stated that the draft plans for the new gastrointestinal disease (GID) centre, which is a collaboration between the University of Otago and the board, had to be on the Health Minister's desk by August 6.
Mrs Blake, who is a member of the GID centre establishment board, said it was important work about how care would be provided was done before "we lock and load" a design which might not work in practice.
When Mr Butterfield took issue with the six-month delay, Mrs Blake said it might not be that long, but her estimate was based on the time it could take for approval to be granted nationally. The election could also have an impact.
Another member of the establishment board, chief nursing and midwifery officer Leanne Samuel, said those involved with the project were putting an enormous amount of work into it and were working as fast as they could.
There were "real challenges" around getting the facility to fit the model of care.
Committee member Richard Thomson asked whether there would be encouragement for nurse endoscopists to be part of the new centre, which would involve investment in training.
Ms Samuel said nurses would be keen on that and would need "the support of our medical colleagues" to drive it.
Nurses performing endoscopy procedures as a "main stream" option in New Zealand was a long way off.
Perhaps the new centre could be the first unit in the country to pilot that with Health Work Force New Zealand innovation support, she said.
Mrs Blake said part of the work of the establishment group would be looking at the mix of skills required.
• Last year Dunedin Hospital delivered 695 colonoscopies, 105 short of its target. Mrs Blake said it was estimated that the number of colonoscopies required for Otago's population was more than 1000 a year.
