- The Crisafulli Government is delivering a new Transit Care Centre at Ipswich Hospital, as part of its Hospital Rescue Plan to heal Labor’s Health Crisis.
- Construction has commenced on the $17.3 million project that will double the capacity of the hospital’s existing transit lounge.
- The Hospital Rescue Plan has already seen statewide ambulance ramping fall to its lowest May ramping rate, with Ipswich Hospital ramping down 16.3 percentage points compared with the same time last year.
- The Crisafulli Government is delivering the Hospital Rescue Plan for health services when you need them, to heal Labor’s Health Crisis.
Construction is now underway on a new Ipswich Hospital Transit Care Centre as part of the fully funded Hospital Rescue Plan, delivering health services when Queenslanders need them most. The Crisafulli Government is delivering the $17.3 million project to more than double the capacity of the hospital’s existing transit lounge, freeing up the busy emergency department to improve patient flow and reduce ambulance ramping.
The new Transit Care Centre will deliver capacity for 24 patients at any time, with the size of the project increased following detailed design work, to deliver even greater patient flow so Queenslanders receive the care they need sooner.
The facility is expected to open in late 2026 and will operate 24 hours a day, supported by additional nursing, allied health, operational and administrative staff, with tailored weekend and public holiday services.
The project forms part of the Ipswich Hospital Expansion under the Crisafulli Government’s Hospital Rescue Plan, which will deliver 200 new overnight beds, a new emergency department, additional operating theatres, an expanded intensive care unit, coronary care unit and a new multi-storey car park by 2028. The expanded Transit Care Centre will also support the Crisafulli Government’s clinician-endorsed 24-hour patient safety directive, ensuring medically stable patients can move to the right care setting sooner so emergency department clinicians can focus on treating new emergency patients. The reforms are already delivering results across West Moreton with the number of patients spending longer than 24-hours in the region’s emergency department falling from 285 when the Crisafulli Government took office to just one patient. Additionally, ambulance ramping at Ipswich Hospital has improved by 16.3 percentage points over the year to May 2026, recording the hospital’s lowest May results in more than four years. The Transit Care Centre is one of several Hospital Rescue Plan projects delivering health services when Queenslanders need them across the region, alongside the expansion of Ipswich Hospital, the new Mater Hospital Springfield, the Ripley Satellite Health Centre Sub-Acute Expansion and car park – all of which the former Labor government failed to properly fund. Last year, a scathing review into the former government’s plan for the Ipswich Hospital Expansion revealed a $215 million cost blowout and was delayed by at least six months.
Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Tim Nicholls said the Transit Care Centre would help frontline clinicians deliver safer, faster care.
“We’re not just building more health infrastructure, we’re delivering real reforms that make our hospitals work better, from our 24-hour patient safety directive to new Transit Care Centres that help patients move through hospitals sooner and receive timely care,” Minister Nicholls said.
“Labor had a decade to address the challenges at Ipswich Hospital but did nothing, leaving the emergency department overstretched with record high ramping rates.
