Waitaki District Health Services (WDHS) chief executive Robert Gonzales said the roughly two months the hospital had been operating with the reduced bed numbers had been "quite quiet'' and while the beds had neared capacity "one or two'' times, the hospital had not been at capacity.
"We didn't have the pressure that we could have faced under the circumstances, but coming winter I think it's starting to pick up again,'' Mr Gonzales said.
"It's been a really mild autumn, we've had really good weather, and I think that could have something to do with it.''
"It [winter] will be the first test, I would say.''
Mr Gonzales cited ongoing underfunding from the Southern District Health Board when he announced the cuts from 30 beds to 24 at Oamaru Hospital, effective April 4.
The bed cuts were a "starting point'' in expected cuts at the hospital, with a proposed 10% funding cut expected when WDHS negotiates a new contract with the district health board for the 2017-18 financial year.
At the time, he said the reduced bed numbers would mean beds would be full more frequently at the hospital, which previously reached capacity four to six times a year.
Yesterday, he said there could be several contributing factors to the hospital's ability to work with reduced bed numbers beyond the unseasonably warm autumn, including working with patients "so that they can be cared for within the community'', district nursing playing a greater role, and GPs managing patients well.
Further, Mr Gonzales said he did not know how many GPs were referring patients directly to Dunedin, or if patients were going directly to Dunedin, in light of the reduced bed numbers in Oamaru.
"We can't really tell from here, but certainly the pressure has not been as great as we would have anticipated.''
Yesterday, the district health board did not respond to a request for comment, but at the time of the announcement the district health board's chief executive, Carole Heatly, said she did not expect "any change to the current levels of service for the Waitaki population as a result of the change in the number of beds provided''.
A clinically-led joint review of services at the hospital was announced at the same time.
And in the planning and funding report at yesterday's combined disability support and community and public health meeting held in Dunedin a note on the Waitaki review of services noted the first of four planned workshops was held in Oamaru on May 19.
"The current planned approach is for three workshops followed by broader community and health system opportunities for co-design in late June. It is anticipated that there will be some high level outcomes of the review available in early August,'' the report reads.
At the meeting, the district health board's planning and funding director Sandra Boardman said the workshop last week was attended by GPs, Oamaru Hospital representatives and district health board staff.
It was still early going in the process, but the parties agreed to work together to "co-design'' health services in the area.
The parties had agreed there was a need to better understand health pressures in Waitaki, she said.
Oamaru hospital management has said funding levels for the emergency department (ED) had been an issue for some time.
A few years ago, the number of attendances was much lower and the funding for staff was workable but there had been a "nearly 100%'' increase in the number of patients seen at the ED, from 4000 to 7742, without an increase in funding.
