Asked for reassurance, Dr Ayesha Verrall’s office did not provide it.
"Ministers are not considering any further changes to the new Dunedin hospital build at this stage," Dr Verrall said.
Specific questions from the Otago Daily Times were not answered directly by the minister, although she did cover general themes raised.
Lack of commitment by the minister to ruling out further cuts to the design of the new hospital came after a public forum this week in Dunedin, where concern about cost-cutting "value management" was brought up.
"It’s pretty important that we have some reassurance that there isn’t going to be any more significant value management after this point," Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Southern clinical transformation group deputy chairman Prof Patrick Manning said.
Asked if she could provide this reassurance, Dr Verrall did not give a direct answer.
"I am fully committed to making sure the people of Dunedin and the wider region get the state-of-the-art health facility they need."
The Government has been under sustained pressure to justify or scrap cuts it announced late last year and explain precisely what they are and why the new hospital will not be compromised by them.
It boosted the project budget by $110million and said $90million of savings would need to be achieved to offset a cost escalation of $200million.
Critics have doubted much will be achieved through the savings when they will be accompanied by a delay in getting the inpatient building finished.
Local Advisory Group chairman Pete Hodgson told the meeting the outpatient building was not being redesigned because this part of the project was "so far down the track".
"The inpatient building will soon be so far down the track, it’ll reach that point.
"That’s why I think further cost increases will have to be absorbed by the taxpayer."
Dr Verrall did not answer a question about whether Mr Hodgson was correct.
"The build of the new Dunedin hospital is the largest ever health infrastructure investment in New Zealand," she said.
"The Government’s total nationwide capital investment in health infrastructure is more than $6.9billion in the five years since 2017.
"Of that investment, Dunedin hospital is $1.58billion.
"This includes the $110 million added in December 2022 to manage market cost escalation and complete the project."
Dunedin city councillor Jim O’Malley had questions arising from the disclosure that non-clinical savings made up more than half of the $90million cuts.
He suggested the non-clinical savings could go ahead, but other cuts should be reversed.
"So, why can’t we send a message back to Wellington: close the gap ... and we won’t have to have this debate any further."
The Otago Daily Times asked if trimmed clinical services could be reinstated at this stage.
Dr Verrall said concept changes that had the least impact on clinical services were made in collaboration with clinicians.
"Our intent is to preserve the capability for the same clinical services in the redesigned building.
"The majority of the savings that were made were as a result of eliminating inefficiencies that were present in the previous design."
The Government has also emphasised the new hospital is set to be an improvement on the existing facility.
