Part of the Canberra Hospital will be accessible on Wednesday for the first time since 2019 following the refurbishment of its oncology ward.
The ageing Canberra Hospital facility received a major upgrade in order to provide more single-bed rooms, reduce the risk of spreading infection and improve the experience for patients, families and staff.
Most of the oncology inpatient rooms had been shared between two and four patients but the majority will now be single rooms, following its major upgrade.
Part of the original hospital building, wards 14A and 14B underwent a $22.4 million redevelopment which involved rooms designed so air flows out, not in, to keep out airborne bacteria.
ACT Minister for Health Rachel Stephen-Smith said the latest refurbishment provides 28 beds for oncology patients, and four additional bed bays. The facility previously had 26 beds.
The additional bed bays will be used to assist with short-stay patients and provide additional capacity for the hospital's Cancer Clinical Trials program, Ms Stephen-Smith said.
Ms Stephen-Smith said the modernisation of the cancer ward provided a glimpse of what the refurbishment of several hospital buildings would look like, with more than 45 projects currently underway.
The biggest of this was the new emergency healthcare facility, Ms Stephen-Smith said.
"But we can't just build new, we also have to refurbish, we also have to renovate, we also have to make the best use of the buildings that we have," she said.
The new rooms were designed to allow for more natural light and to be a more pleasant place for both patients and their families, consumer advocate John Chapuis said.
Mr Chapuis was consulted on the design project after spending time in the hospital while his wife Lea received treatment for breast cancer.
"One of the things she told me to do was get involved to see if I can make things better," he said.
Mr Chapuis said he was pleased to see the plans he'd helped work on several years ago had transpired in the newly refurbished hospital ward.
The budget of $17 million was originally set aside for the upgrade, an extra $5.2 million was repurposed following the completion of several other hospital projects which came in under budget, infrastructure director Colm Mooney said.
Patients seeking hematology and cancer treatment will have access to the second ward from Wednesday, after work was put on hold last year due to COVID-19.
Ward 14A was opened in 2019 and included new medical equipment and furnishings.
Ms Stephen-Smith said the team was now working with the Canberra Hospital Foundation to fund the refurbishment of the courtyard space which, she said, would further enhance that part of the hospital campus.
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