Chief operating officer Vivian Blake said the Ministry of Health had asked the board to review its decision so the ministry could consider a nationally consistent approach to the issue.
"We have agreed not to charge while the national position is being reviewed."
The $10 part charge was to have been introduced from November 15 when the current contract between the board and ACC expires, along with those for private providers.
Mrs Blake said it was not known how long the ministry review would take.
Under the new contract, ACC would pay less, meaning the public hospital would not be covered for the full cost of treatments, Mrs Blake said.
It was not known at this stage how long the ministry would take to issue further advice on the matter.
Accident patients comprised about a fifth of the work done by board physiotherapists.
If the ruling was that the board was not able to charge, then it would have an impact on the board's deficit.
The board had set the co-payment at a level which was designed to cover costs rather than generate revenue.
Concern has been expressed by some in the physiotherapy profession that public hospitals' physiotherapy services could be swamped if they remained free while private providers introduced co-payments.
Mrs Blake said that had been considered.
Having a co-payment would have meant the board was in a similar position to other providers.
The contracts with ACC were the same for public and private services.
Mrs Blake said Southland had also been looking at the idea of co-payments and she understood up to five other hospitals were also considering the idea.
ACC had advised it was evaluating other DHB contracts such as high technology imaging (MRI and CT scans), with the suggestion that these could be reduced by 20%.
Mrs Blake said the board had advised the ministry of the need to look at the impact of other situations which "may well come forward" involving ACC changes, including the imaging issue.
