Canberra Hospital is set to have a new main entry in a matter of days with the final touches being made to the welcome hall in the new critical services building.
The hospital's new reception is set to open next week ahead of the new building's opening in August.
Canberra Health Services will be handed the keys to the building in the coming weeks in order to enable them to start adding equipment to the building.
Staff will also start orientations in the new building in order to make them familiar with the new space.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the opening of the new reception was a significant step towards delivering the new building. She said it would improve the experience for people entering the hospital.
"For families, for carers, for patients who are waiting for an outpatient appointment, it's a beautiful spot to just sit and relax, as well as being a great hub for the hospital in terms of navigation," she said.
Ms Stephen-Smith said there had been consideration of an indoor-outdoor connection in the new reception hall.
"That's reflected in the greenery that's inside this space as well as the visual connection with the outdoors," she said.
"It's also reflected throughout the whole building where we've got very large windows with incredible views across Ngunnawal country, really connecting to that landscape."
The critical services building will hold some of the key places for the hospital, including the emergency department, operating theatres and the intensive care unit.
These are currently located in the main tower at the hospital, which will eventually be demolished but it is still some years until this will happen.
"The tower building will continue to be an important place. There will continue to be wards in that building for some years yet," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
The new main reception will be joined with the current area, with the main cafe to remain in its current spot. However, a cafe is set to open in the new building at a later time.
The entrance for the current emergency department, on Yamba Drive, will be redesigned to include a new bus stop.
There will be a clinical link between the tower block and the new building. This link extends over the main reception.
"The clinical link will give [patients] privacy while also enabling them as they move through to actually be able to see out through the windows and get some connection with where they are in the wider building and in the landscape," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
Following the completion of the critical services building attention will turn to the build of a new pathology building.
There will also be some work in the current theatres to deliver a specific theatre for the Centenary Hospital for Women. New endoscopy suites are also being worked on.
Three artworks by Indigenous artists have also been installed in the new building, including Lynnice Church's artwork, Healing Journey, which is displayed along the main gateway in the welcome hall.
The artwork comprises 24,073 colourful metal discs, each attached by hand to a metal frame that stretches across the front and back entrance of the hall.
The Canberra Hospital expansion was first promised by the government ahead of the 2016 election and Labor's 10-year health plan initially planned for it to be open in 2022.
