The united push to stop the cuts due to the potential impact on the entire lower South Island follows last month’s approval of "design changes" to the value of $90 million, announced five days before Christmas.
In the coming days, the group, which so far consists of Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan, Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher, Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich and Otago Regional Council chairwoman Gretchen Robertson, will formally request an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister, Health Minister and Minister of Finance.
Mr Cadogan said Dunedin Hospital accounted for 63% of hospital visits by those from the Clutha district.
"This is the South’s only tertiary hospital and is a multigenerational asset servicing Otago and Southland."
The new hospital build was an opportunity to future proof the regions’ health care, he said.
However, the cutbacks risked repeating mistakes made 20 years ago with the Southland Hospital rebuild, which was too small.
As a percentage of the total project cost, the savings were negligible, and the cost was at risk of rising due to inflation.
"What we will have is no saving and a hugely compromised end product."
As well as requesting the urgent meeting, the group would individually write to their local MPs and government ministers of their choosing about the cuts, Mr Cadogan said.
These include a reduction in hospital beds to 398, 12 fewer than planned, and fewer operating theatres - 26 rather than 28.
If the cuts go ahead, the hospital will open with two MRI scanners rather than three, and no PET-CT scanner.
The pavilion building and one link bridge between the inpatient and outpatient buildings would also not go ahead.
Space had been set aside to increase beds by 12 and add two operating theatres and another MRI scanner at some point.
Mr Kircher said about half the hospital care needed by Waitaki district residents was met by Dunedin Hospital, where those requiring more intensive care were sent.
Despite the name, it was "not just Dunedin’s hospital", he said.
Aspects of the plan that had been cut were necessary to meet people’s needs, both now and in the future, he said.
The changes might save "a little" in up-front capital costs, but the ongoing implications and operating costs would outweigh any of these savings.
Because of the holidays, the group was unable to contact the mayors of Invercargill, Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes to ask for their endorsement.
Following the announcement last month, Mr Little said the project was future-proofed despite the changes, emphasising the space to make additions later. He denied a lack of urgency, describing the project as large and complex.
People needed to think about the project over a span of decades, as other capital projects, such as a possible expansion of Southland Hospital and a possible new hospital campus in North Otago, would be considered in future, he said.
"Dunedin will have a state-of-the-art hospital that suits its needs."
