The group planning for an expected shortfall in the labour force required for the new Dunedin hospital has been unable to find someone to co-ordinate the work.
It now plans to look for a person with the right skills it can employ on secondment, after advertising the role and coming up short.
The workforce development advisory group for the hospital build was formed last year among industry players, government organisations and others to plan for the shortfall in skilled labour expected for the hospital build.
Its role was to co-ordinate worker training.
At the time, Health Minister David Clark said there were not enough workers available in Otago and Southland to fill the demand caused by the hospital and other planned projects.
The hospital itself is expected to require more than 1000 workers, though it was announced last year the project would be built in two stages, the first stage starting next year, and requiring about 350 workers at its peak.
Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dougal McGowan, the chairman of the group, said late last year funding had been confirmed from Government and local government sources for a fulltime worker for the group.
He said yesterday the job had been advertised and a shortlist made up, ''but we decided not to appoint''.
He said that was because of ''the complexity of the relationships people would need to have and the level of industry knowledge''.
The role required dealing with government organisations, private business and the likes of secondary schools and training providers.
''It's quite a wide-ranging job description.''
Despite the quality of applicants, nobody had the skills required ''right across the spectrum''.
The group wanted to second someone to the role.
That person would transfer to the hospital position, then return to their usual employment after completing work for the group.
