Matt Doocey was in Dunedin on Saturday for the National Party’s Mainland regional conference and he was interviewed by the Otago Daily Times.
A business case for what would be involved in the hospital redevelopment would be primarily locally driven, he said.
It would then go before the Cabinet for sign-off.
The government included Wakari in the first tranche of mental health and addiction facilities requiring investment within its health infrastructure plan.
This put the Dunedin facility in the 2025-29 band for investment.
In 2022, Chief Ombudsman Judge Peter Boshier was critical of the ward 10A design at Wakari, calling the environment volatile and saying the ward was in critical need of an upgrade and redevelopment.
"The physical environment was described by staff working there as a ‘disgrace’, and I believe it compromises staff and patient safety."
Mr Doocey said he had opened a couple of new mental health facilities nationally in the past year and he was impressed by them.
"You can go to some older facilities that look more like a police cell than a place where someone goes to get well.
"We're mindful we do have some very outdated facilities that are not therapeutic for the patients and at times can pose a risk to staff.
"So that's why we are focused on the redevelopment of Wakari and why it was one of the first cabs off the rank."
Wakari staff were notified late last year embedded security was to be removed from ward 10A, heightening fears about the risk of assaults.
Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora said there had been a security boost, but it was temporary while recruitment was under way for several staff vacancies — it ended up keeping the measure.
Mr Doocey said he welcomed the support provided.
"I think it also speaks to the principle we wanted, of putting local decision-making as close to the front line as possible."
He also discussed the first two quarters of data to come in since the government set targets relating to mental health and addictions.
The targets are aimed at achieving outcomes such as faster access to specialist mental health and addiction services and strengthened focus on prevention and early intervention.
An eye-catching result for the Southern district was the proportion of people accessing primary mental health and addiction services through an access and choice programme within one week climbed from 66.4% to 91.6%.
This was against an 80% target.
Patients obtaining specialist services in the Southern district within three weeks of referral shifted from 75.1% to 78% against a target of 80%.
The proportion of youth being seen within three weeks of referral was static for Southern at just above 70%.
Deputy chief executives in each of four health regions were required to have action plans about lifting performance, Mr Doocey said.
"The whole thing here is to drive waiting times down."
