Progress on the new $3.6 million ward project was affected by the serious injury of a worker on the site after the collapse of a concrete wall on June 21. The site did not fully reopen until July 4.
Southern District Health Board facilities and site development manager Warren Taylor said the new ward had been due to be handed over at the end of the year.
This had not been the best timing, because of the Christmas break, with many staff on leave, so the relocation had been delayed until late January.
While some staff could not get to work one day during the recent snow, that had not affected the overall project.
The mental-health ward shift is one of 16 projects within a budget of $24.38 million for the first stage of the master site plan to redevelop Dunedin and Wakari Hospitals.
So far, tenders let for 11 of the projects have come in under budget by almost $90,000.
However, in his report to this week's hospitals' advisory committee Mr Taylor points out that the amount allocated for the staff cafeterias at both hospitals will be too low.
These figures, given last year as a total of $3,070,568, had been based on reusing equipment from the Dunedin cafeteria through both cafeterias, but much of that equipment was now too old for that.
This had been exacerbated because the food service had also deferred replacement of some equipment in anticipation of the cafeteria upgrade.
A full review of the project was under way.
The cafeteria in Dunedin Hospital is being shifted to the area occupied by the pebble garden, to make way for other services, and a new staff-only cafeteria is being built at Wakari Hospital under the plan.
The final part of the project will be the redevelopment and relocation of the neonatal intensive care unit and the paediatric ward on the first floor at Dunedin Hospital by the end of 2013.
Mr Taylor said the board's own design team, working with service representatives had produced "an excellent design".
This would be sent out for external peer review and cost estimates done before being submitted to the Ministry of Health for final approval.
Asked whether space problems at Dunedin Hospital could have been solved by adding storeys to buildings, Mr Taylor said this had been reviewed in the past and there "were not many options available".
Such proposals created more problems than they solved and he agreed with the suggestion the costs would be horrendous.
The Department of Labour investigation into the wall collapse incident could take up to six months to complete. The board has also begun its own internal investigation, classifying the incident as high risk, meaning a detailed investigation must be completed within 70 days.
