Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden chaired the inaugural meeting, attended by Dr Elinor Slater, of Queenstown Medical Centre, Dr James Reid, of Lakes District Hospital, financial adviser Martin Hawes, Wakatipu Primary Health Organisation chairman Tony Hill and Southern District Health Board (DHB) finance and funding general manager Robert Mackway-Jones.
The public-excluded meeting was "extremely productive" and the panel made a good start in terms of formulating the terms of reference for its operation, Ms van Uden said.
Feedback from the group, including specific thoughts on the issues around a CT scanner for the Lakes district, will be presented for discussion at the next DHB meeting by Mr Mackway-Jones.
The Mayor said the group was looking at health services for the district from a wider clinical perspective and while discussion about a CT scanner and where it should be sited was ongoing, the group was pleased to be informed that some other issues raised in the National Health Board report had been resolved.
They included access to nursing services in Glenorchy and improvements in access to emergency care for aged patients.
Progress was made in setting up a clinical services forum to discuss service provision and planning for the Wakatipu.
The DHB decided in November the scanner location should be determined by the communities served by Lakes District Hospital and Dunstan Hospital reaching consensus on the issue.
