At the request of the Government of South Australia, the hospital was named after Queen Elizabeth II, who had recently acceded to the Australian throne.

A large portrait of the Queen, together with a letter authorising TQEH name and granting Arms to the hospital, decorates the principal foyer.

The hospital houses the Australian and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry (ANZDATA), which collects national statistics on the treatment of those patients with end-stage kidney failure.

The proposed redevelopment included plans to build a new emergency department, more car parking, new outpatient clinics, a new day surgery and operating theatre suite, a new medical imaging suite and a new brain and spinal injury rehabilitation centre, including a hydrotherapy pool, to accommodate patients from Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre.

[9] TQEH provides mental health services through community response teams, the QEH's Emergency Department, and a 40-bed purpose-built inpatient unit.