The practice is using a Ministry of Health feasibility grant to consider becoming Dunedin's first integrated family health centre (IFHC), practice manager Barbara Bridger said.
The centre, which has 17 GPs and a host of other health services, was in preliminary talks with the DHB to offer services, including more minor surgery, district nursing, and establishing an elderly community care hub.
She declined to give details of the section, on which there was no agreement, and which was not available until next year.
It made sense for Mornington to develop as an IFHC because it already resembled one, and it needed new funding streams having lost its independent PHO status at the end of last year, she said.
Mornington was disappointed at having to join Southern PHO, and the loss of funding meant the centre had to budget carefully to maintain services, she said.
Its cluster of allied health services - including physiotherapy, mental-health nurses, a dietitian and paediatrician, a specialist diabetes educator, and Mornington Pharmacy - meant it was a "holistic" provider already.
Mornington hoped to become a "cluster" in a proposed reshuffle of elderly community care services the Southern DHB is expected to introduce following the recommendation of an independent report.
Mornington Health Centre chairman Dr Tony Fitchett said the centre was cramped and needed more space to offer additional services.
Patients would benefit through not attending Dunedin Hospital for minor procedures, while the health sector would benefit through lower costs.
Being in the super PHO was "dumbing down [Mornington] to the [lowest] denominator". He pointed out Mornington outperformed Southern PHO in a results card released last week which covered the last period before it amalgamated, the last PHO to do so, with the regional health authority.
The super PHO's "mind-set" of providing identical health-care services across Otago and Southland stymied more ambitious and able practices, he believed.
Southern PHO chief executive Ian Macara acknowledged Mornington outperformed in the score card released by District Health Boards New Zealand, but Southern PHO's results reflected performance throughout Otago and Southland. Mr Macara said he kept an eye on high performers and would recognise achievement.
Mornington's proposed development made sense as more health care should be delivered in the community, he said.
