SDHB chief executive Carole Heatly yesterday confirmed job losses were a possibility as the organisation began fresh restructuring.
She would not be interviewed by the Otago Daily Times; communications manager Steve Addison said she was "extremely busy".
However, she told Radio New Zealand redundancies were "always an option" as part of the latest reshuffle, which aimed to merge the remaining structures of the former Southland and Otago DHBs.
Her comments followed confirmation on Wednesday the health board's projected deficit had risen to between $15 million and $15.5 million, up from the $10.2 million deficit predicted last month.
However, Mr Addison told the ODT the prospect of job losses was "categorically" not linked to the board's worsening deficit position. Restructuring plans pre-dated the latest bad news.
"The intention has always been to realign the organisation to complete the merger.
"It [restructuring] will have significant impacts and benefits on the bottom line, but it is not a reaction to the deficit."
The health board had already completed a reorganisation of its upper echelons since Ms Heatly's arrival.
A final executive-level structure trimmed the top team from 13 positions to 11.
Changes took effect this week, and Mr Addison said attention was now turning to the rest of the organisation.
Scoping for the second round of restructuring was only just beginning, and staff would be consulted, but changes were expected to be unveiled later this year, he said.
Ms Heatly had already ruled out any loss of frontline positions, but back-office positions would be scrutinised "across the board", Mr Addison said.
"We are looking to reduce duplication throughout the organisation, and we would expect possible changes through that.
"We have got two DHBs that have merged into one, but the systems haven't merged into one, so in many places we have two sets of people doing similar jobs, where we think we could structure that differently.
"Two may become one and a-half, or four might become three.
"Until we go through the process and look at it, it's too early to make those sorts of assumptions."
It was expected the restructuring would result in a leaner, more efficient organisation, providing single clinical pathways to patients throughout Otago and Southland, as well as cost savings for the board, he said.
"We see that that will be very beneficial to the efficient running of the organisation. It will save money."
