A site for the Wanaka maternal and child hub should be announced within days, the Southern District Health Board says.
What the hub - a step down from the full birthing centre local women have been lobbying for - would offer has been something of a mystery as no site for the new service had been announced.
SDHB primary and community executive director Lisa Gestro told Parliament's health select committee on Wednesday that an announcement on a site was imminent.
"It has been really difficult finding a suitable premises but we think we are there now,"
Mrs Gestro said.
"Our ideal is midwives feeling like they are part of a team, so our endgame in Wanaka is still for co-location and genuine integration of LMC and midwifery with a broader primary care team - that is what the primary care team would love as well."
Earlier, SDHB chief executive Chris Fleming said what maternity services would be offered in the Lakes region was still subject to public consultation.
The hub opening in Wanaka was seen as a step forward but "not being the end of the story", Mr Fleming said.
At Wednesday's committee meeting in Wellington - the SDHB's annual review - the organisation faced questions on the decision to downgrade maternity services at Lumsden.
Mr Fleming said maternity services were not sustainable, especially for remote communities.
"Tough decisions were made about Lumsden, looking at how we can utilise our resources to provide as balanced and as equitable an amount of services across our wider district."
He said the SDHB would dispute there had been any downgrade in services "across the population".
The health select committee is still to consider a petition from local National MP Hamish Walker which calls for the Lumsden Maternity Centre to be saved.
