Ms Davies was accompanied on the tour by member for Albury Greg Aplin as a sign-off on arrangements for the $3 million centre, which has been in limbo for 12 months and is close to being ticked off by Mercy Health and Albury-Wodonga Health.

It emerged last month the Mercy Hospital was the preferred, but not confirmed site for the centre which secured initial funding in 2014.

“The money is there,” Ms Davies said.

“The NSW government is committed to delivering it along with the advocacy of local member, Greg Aplin.

“If there are any other obstacles to achieve this for the betterment of the community we will overcome those.”

Plans for the brain and mind centre are in the concept stage and will be advanced once the agreement between the two health bodies is signed. Mr Aplin said the best-case scenario would be for the centre to be operational early next year.

“It is something I have been working towards for quite some considerable time,” he said.

“It is awaiting the sign-off now.

“We’ve seen some plans and I am encouraged by what I see.

“There will be perfectly enough funding for this particular stage.

“It will deliver what we wanted.”

Following the original funding announcement consultants were appointed to come up with the preferred location.

Also, complicating the project's delivery was the integration of mental health services provided by the Murrumbidgee Health Service in NSW with AWH.

Ms Davies also announced the NSW and Victorian governments were contributing $500,000 each to refurbishing mental health unit, Nolan House.

“The money is going to go towards improving natural light, the re-configuration of the (high dependency) unit as well as improving privacy and bathing facilities for patients and staff,” she said.

The minister met with Nolan House staff and representatives from the Friends of Nolan House and also toured the facility.

The NSW government’s $500,000 was confirmed in the recent state budget when the Albury hospital emergency department also scored $30 million.