More transit lounges to help ease pressure on Queensland’s busiest hospitals

• The Crisafulli Government is delivering on its election commitment to expand hospital transit lounges to reduce ramping and free up hospital beds.
• 30 new treatment spaces across the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, The Prince Charles Hospital and Rockhampton Hospital will help deliver easier access to health services. 
• This is the second phase of the Crisafulli Government's $80 million investment in expanded transit lounges to heal Labor’s Health Crisis.
• The Crisafulli Government is delivering easier access to health services, and a fresh start for Queensland.  

The Crisafulli Government is delivering easier access to health services for Queenslanders, announcing the second phase of the hospital transit lounge expansion that will deliver 30 new treatment spaces across three major Queensland hospitals. 

The second phase of the Crisafulli Government’s $80 million hospital transit lounge expansion, through the Easier Access to Health Services Plan, will help improve patient flow and reduce ambulance ramping which is the result of the former Labor Government’s decade of underinvestment in Queensland’s health system. 

The new works will see refurbished, relocated or expanded transit lounges delivered at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, The Prince Charles Hospital and Rockhampton Hospital, including:  

• Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital will receive a major refurbishment and expansion, creating a fit-for-purpose transit lounge with a total 46 treatment spaces.
• The Prince Charles Hospital will expand its existing transit lounge to improve utilisation and meet growing service needs, delivering a total of 24 treatment spaces.
• Rockhampton Hospital will relocate and expand its transit lounge to improve access, patient flow and operational efficiency with a total of 20 treatment spaces. 

Transit lounges provide a dedicated space for patients who are medically ready for discharge but may be waiting for medications, discharge summaries, transport or final test results, allowing acute beds to be turned over more quickly for emergency care. 

The Crisafulli Government is delivering easier access to health services for Queenslanders after the former Labor Government left patients stuck on stretchers and hospitals under pressure, creating Queensland's health crisis. 

The Federal Government’s failure to help stranded Australians in Queensland hospitals, who are clinically ready for discharge but cannot leave due to the lack of access to federally-funded aged care or disability support, has also placed further pressure on Queensland’s health system. 

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Tim Nicholls said the Crisafulli Government was delivering easier access to health services for Queenslanders. 

“After a decade of decline under Labor, the Crisafulli Government is getting on with the job of fixing Queensland’s health system and delivering easier access to health services,” Minister Nicholls said.

“Transit lounges are a practical solution that free up hospital beds sooner, reduce bottlenecks in emergency departments and help patients move through the system faster. 

“Every additional transit lounge space means an acute bed can be freed up sooner for someone who needs urgent care. 

“This is about fixing the fundamentals Labor ignored: improving patient flow, supporting frontline staff and delivering better outcomes for patients.

“We have more than 1,250 Stranded Australians languishing in Queensland hospitals alone, up from 553 in May 2022 - that equates to more than 10 per cent of all our hospital beds. 

“The Commonwealth Government’s inability to provide for Stranded Australians is costing Queenslanders $2.88 million every single day.”

These three expansions are in addition to the seven projects the Crisafulli Government announced in September 2025 to deliver transit lounges at some of Queensland’s busiest hospitals. 
 
New or expanded transit lounges are on track to be operational by the end of 2026 at Cairns Hospital, Gladstone Hospital, Mackay Base Hospital, Logan Hospital, Redland Hospital, Townsville University Hospital and Ipswich Hospital, with some already online.