A draft South Island regional health service plan has been developed by district health boards, but it may be some months before the public gets to hear what is in it.
The National Health Board requires the plan to address up to five high-priority areas where the five South Island boards can make obvious progress to address clinical or financial sustainability or improve equity of access to services.
The South Island plan will also take into account actions to help the recovery effort in Canterbury.
The national body has been clear that it wants clinicians and clinical groups involved so they are supportive of the process.
The plans also have to be in step with the individual boards' annual plans. Like draft annual plans, they will not be released until the Minister of Health has approved the final version, which, in the South Island's case, could be two months away.
South Island boards' planning spokesman Chris Fleming (South Canterbury), asked about community involvement, said there had not been "direct community input" into the plan regionally.
However, advisory groups which had community input at individual DHBs were likely to have been "kept aware of the plan's development".
Part of the plan also has to include details on how the boards will resolve any disputes. When the South Island boards could not agree last year about neurosurgery, their dispute was referred to the Director-general of Health who set up a panel to make recommendations.
At the time, associate director of the New Zealand centre for public law at Victoria University Dean Knight described the process as "Mickey Mouse".
Boards had not passed decisions giving the Director-general their decision-making function (something which would need approval from the Minister of Health) and there was a risk of legal challenge.
It is not known whether this process has been altered in the draft plan.
Plans from the Northern, Midland and Central regions have already been through the National Health Board review and feedback process.
