The remarks came from HNZ officials at a health select committee hearing yesterday.
"There is some work going on in regards to campus planning with the whole region ... Certainly it is very early stages."
Taieri MP Ingrid Leary asked HNZ commissioner Lester Levy whether the new Dunedin hospital would remain a tertiary hospital - which means a hospital where specialist services are delivered.
Dr Levy said people should "always be open" to clinical service delivery modelling work, and "if that’s going to produce a result that is going to be more effective for the patients and population, we would look at that".
Ms Leary told the HNZ officials the response sounded like HNZ would consider moving tertiary level services to Christchurch if Dr Levy felt that was the right thing to do.
"What the people of the South need is a firm commitment that they will get the tertiary level hospital they were promised."
Ms Leary asked Dr Levy again whether tertiary services in Dunedin would be retained.
Dr Levy responded "there is no plan to change that" but "people are looking at different options".
"I know you want those guarantees but these things evolve."
Dr Levy’s comments come as the government deliberates over its September announcement as to whether it will proceed with either a scaled-down version of the new Dunedin hospital, or a retrofit of the existing hospital.
The budget has been set at $1.88 billion. HNZ officials are preparing the options for the government and a decision is yet to be made.
After the meeting, Ms Leary said Dr Levy’s remarks were deeply concerning.
"The failure of Lester Levy to provide any assurance to the contrary calls into question where tertiary services will be located and thus the spectre of a downgrade to the new Dunedin hospital.
"That is a huge concern given the clinical need for ICU and other specialist care located close enough to communities within the Deep South to save lives."
Ms Leary said tertiary status was also a fundamental need for the viability of the medical school and "indeed the economic lifeblood and development of the region".
Labour health infrastructure spokeswoman Tracey McLellan was also worried.
"HNZ need to be clear about what impact their recent work looking at clinical service capability would have on the tertiary status of the new Dunedin hospital," she said.
"We are no further ahead in knowing even after direct questions at annual review. They had the opportunity to say yes or no to direct questions and they didn’t take that opportunity to reassure the southern region."
New Zealand Nurses Organisation president Anne Daniels, who watched the meeting, said she just wanted a "straight yes or no answer" from Dr Levy, because the issue was so important.
"The major implications for everybody are terrible.
"If we don’t have a tertiary level care hospital, that is going to have major implications for the Otago Medical School because they have a requirement during their undergraduate medical training to have clinical skills and placement and specific specialties."
