The $50 million expansion, announced in 2017, was originally supposed to be completed by this year.

Official estimates now have its completion slated for the 2021-2022 financial year, but, as reported today, the latest figures contained in the ACT Health annual report suggest it will not be completed until the second half of 2023.

The delays to this project are not unexpected. Major health projects are often both expensive and subject to changes in policy, standards and health protocols.

The need to complete health infrastructure projects in a timely fashion is often trumped by the requirement that corners not be cut, and that the project is done right.

Nor was it unexpected that the delays to the project would be brandished multiple times as examples of ACT Labor's inability to deliver on promises, accompanied by dire warnings about the heath of mothers and babies should Labor be re-elected.

Labor was re-elected - also to be expected - and the reasons behind the delays remain the same.

Canberra Health Services deputy chief executive Dave Peffer has pointed out the need for optimal results when carrying out and completing projects, and that designing the right hospital is more important than meeting an arbitrary deadline.

He said some of the main changes to the scope of the project, including those that have come about due to feedback from patients, have pushed the completion date out.

Later additions to the initial expansion plans, such as upgrades to the paediatric adolescent ward and a new adolescent mental health unit, have also pushed back the date of completion.

Dates might be, to a certain extent, of little meaning when it comes to the apparently eternally shifting landscapes of infrastructure development.

But to most ordinary people - voters, citizens, users of the healthcare system - a date does count for something. It's our taxpayer dollars, after all.

Promises, on the other hand, can be added to almost indefinitely, rendering them almost meaningless as everyday life continues and health systems continue to be tested.

The ACT government has shown enough goodwill when it comes to delays in delivering crucial health infrastructure; it's clear to most voters that the sector is complex and subject to change.

But we can and should expect more when it comes to healthcare in this country; 2020, more than any other year, has showed us how crucial it is that our health sector receives the support and funding it needs.

The knowledge that Canberra residents can rely on what their government is promising when it comes to healthcare is ever more important in an era in which hospitals and health providers are under the greatest scrutiny.

Opposition health spokeswoman Giulia Jones had a point last week when she pointed out the government had a track record of failing to deliver critical health infrastructure.

"Government briefs have recently revealed an impending shortfall of hospital capacity in our growing north, and now it appears expansions to the Canberra Hospital in the south are being further delayed," she said.

"It's time for Labor and the Greens to stop talking about hospital expansions and start delivering them."

Talking, rather than delivering. Expanding the proposals, rather than making them a reality.

It might be understandable, but it shouldn't be inevitable.