Big changes are coming to the Canberra Hospital with the opening of the new Critical Services Building later this year.

The new 44,000sqm building provides a major upgrade and expansion to our services at the Canberra Hospital, ensuring we continue to meet the needs of our growing city and region.

The Critical Services Building will include a larger Emergency Department, with dedicated children’s emergency area, more operating rooms, more treatment spaces and more intensive care beds.

Most importantly, many of the critical care services will be located in the one building, making it easier for the public to navigate the campus.

People are at the heart of the building’s design, with the new and improved public facilities and amenities that will make the hospital experience more comfortable for staff, patients, their carers, and families.

New facilities and amenities include:

• two new cafes, providing more dining options;
• a family respite lounge, complete with kitchenette, meeting room and showers;
• breakout spaces and waiting lounges for patients, families, carers and visitors;
• parent rooms for both patients and CHS team members;
• a kid’s play zone and a sensory room in the dedicated Children’s Emergency Area within the Emergency Department;
• a Changing Places facility in the main reception providing accessible toilet facilities for those who need them; and
• outdoor gardens, courtyards, and terraces for patients, including a reflection garden for CHS team members.

While construction continues on the Critical Services Building, we remain on track to see the first patient treated in the building in the second half of this year.

Before the Critical Services Building begins to receive patients, we will provide community tours for Canberrans to visit the new building and learn more about the services that will be operating from it. We’ll have more information about these opportunities in the coming months as we get close to the building opening.

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