Appointments to the board, which will be chaired by Melbourne neurosurgeon and academic Prof Andrew Kaye, are being finalised.
National Health Board project manager David Graham said the board was in the final stages of appointing an implementation manager and administrative support for Prof Kaye. It was expected they would be announced next week.
Prof Kaye planned to visit both the Southern and Canterbury district health boards in mid December.
The two boards had confirmed that their new chairmen, Bruce Matheson (Canterbury) and Joe Butterfield (Southern), would take their places on the governance board.
The other members yet to be announced are the independent neurosurgeon, the expert consumer adviser, a chairman of one of the other South Island district health boards, a senior University of Otago nominee and a South Island iwi nominee.
The board will be given the delegated authority and support to lead the business and clinical development of the regional service.
This will include all appointments and reappointments of neurosurgeons and key clinical staff in Christchurch and Dunedin, although the staff will be employees of the two boards.
The board has been asked to give urgent attention to building the Dunedin centre, in association with the University of Otago.
The service is to involve seven and then eight neurosurgeons, with a minimum of three in Dunedin.
At least two of the Dunedin appointments are to have academic duties - one as professor, the other as senior lecturer.
The board will ensure equitable neurosurgery access through a plan including setting up an outreach programme to centres outside Christchurch and Dunedin where visiting surgeons will provide specialist assessments and follow-up appointments.
The board, in conjunction with the Medical Council of New Zealand and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, will ensure robust, timely and practical processes for assessing international medical graduates for registration in neurosurgery.
Another task will be developing a population-based funding model to ensure equitable access.
Mr Graham said a start had been made on developing a budget.
