Last week, the Southern District Health Board issued six-month exit notices to all the PHOs, something PHOs had been warned would happen if the assignment process was not completed by the end of June.
Earlier this year, the launch of the new PHO, first set for July 1, was delayed to October 1 because the arrangements organising payments to general practices could not be completed in time.
The progress of the new PHO was discussed in the closed session at the district health board's July monthly meeting.
After the meeting, board chairman Errol Millar was only marginally confident "things would be sorted out" by October 1.
Mr Millar said he could understand "pretty genuine concerns" among the PHOs, but if "we all stand on our dignity too much", the objectives of the new PHO would not be achieved.
Transition board chairman Dr Conway Powell said while the process had had a "few ups and downs", progress was being made and he was happy about the way things were going.
He was confident "mutually agreeable" assignments would be completed in the "very near future".
He could understand the district health board's concerns about progress, but the process had involved negotiating with the nine PHOs (each with different trust deeds) while also talking to a range of professional groups and service-providers.
It was a complex task, which involved looking at more than 150 individual programmes across the nine PHOs.
While "one or two" PHOs were still concerned about some matters, these issues were being resolved.
One of the PHOs with concerns is the Otago Southern PHO, which says it is reluctant to hand over funds before it is satisfied the new PHO will use the funding to benefit the people of its region.
Manager Kaylene Holland said the PHO had been unable to get an operational plan or a strategic plan from the transition board to provide confidence about this.
Suggestions from the PHO had neither been welcomed nor invited, she said.
Correspondence between the PHO and the transition board shows a request to see the operational and management plans and its health promotion and service to improve access plans was denied because transition board negotiator Prof Murray Tilyard said these were the business of the Southern PHO.
Operational and management plans were being developed and, to a large extent, the management plans would be determined by which PHOs assigned and what programmes were assigned to the new organisation.
Well Dunedin chief executive Sandy Baines said she did not believe anyone was trying to block the assignment process, but each PHO would be doing it "in their own way".
In the case of Well Dunedin, it had to be satisfied the new PHO would pick up existing programmes and use funding for its intended purpose and needed to see plans for that.
"That's not a criticism, but we need to see the detail."
It was always going to be difficult for the transition board dealing with nine different governance groups with different leadership styles, she said.
District health board chief executive Brian Rousseau said the board's expectation was that assignment matters would be resolved by October 1.
He said he did not accept the argument that if the new PHO had not been set up and existing PHOs had been encouraged to collaborate that more progress would have been made by now.
"We could never make progress in some of the areas. That's why the boards decided to go with one PHO."
Dr Powell said the transition board hoped to receive a report soon from its employment consultant on the applicants for the PHO chief executive's job, but it was too soon to say when an appointment might be made.
Asked if an earlier appointment of a chief executive might have aided the transition, Mr Rousseau said in hindsight there were some things which might have been done differently, but it was new ground.
