At this week's hospitals advisory committee meeting, the southern district health chief said while the issue was complex, "in my view, we have got to find a solution".
The matter was raised by committee member Fiona McArthur, of Queenstown, who asked about travel times for patients going to Invercargill from her area rather than Dunstan Hospital for treatment.
When the Otago and Southland boards were separate and Queenstown fell within Southland's range, Queenstown patients went to Invercargill for their treatment because to go to Dunstan would have meant travelling out of the board's area.
Ms McArthur said there might be contracting issues around Dunstan Hospital providing extra treatment, but there was a "quite substantial" difference in the travelling time for patients. Speaking after the meeting, she said travelling to Invercargill from Queenstown took about an hour longer than travelling to Dunstan Hospital.
People in the Queenstown area had hoped a combined board would be able to deliver such services closer to home, although she acknowledged it could be more complicated than it looked.
Chief operating officer (Otago) Vivian Blake said there were a "raft of issues" which needed to be resolved if the service was to be true to its principles.
Mr Rousseau told the meeting the question had been raised with him, but it was a lot more complex than simply transferring patients to Dunstan. It could involve such matters as co-ordinating cycles of treatment with available staffing. It also depended on what type of chemotherapy was involved.
Speaking after the meeting, he said the Southern Blood and Cancer Service wanted to be able to deliver services on a three- or four-site model, which would include Queenstown and Dunstan.
It already offered some clinics in Balclutha, Gore and Oamaru, and one of the service's objectives was to offer rural services which were as thoroughgoing as possible.
It had not been able to achieve that yet for Queenstown.
Part of the proposal for the redevelopment of Lakes District Hospital would involve more out-patient clinics in Queenstown, but that project was on hold as the options for future care there were undergoing a clinical review not expected to be completed until late this year.
Just what services would eventually be delivered from the hospital at Frankton was not clear.
There were some treatments where extra services provided by larger hospitals were needed.
