Think of it as a soft opening.

Five weeks after speeches were given at a ribbon-cutting ceremony, a new 90-bed wing at Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks still waits for the state approval needed to accept patients.

But as of 5 a.m. today, the new wing's lobby, gift shop and other functions not involving patient care are scheduled to open to the public. All people will enter the hospital through the new wing, where patients will go through an admissions process before being sent down a hallway to the older wing. People will enter the emergency room through a new entry marked by signs.

The rest of the 200,000-square-foot addition could start opening as soon as Tuesday. Hospital officials said staff from the California Department of Public Health are scheduled to inspect the addition Monday. Approval could mean one of three patient care units would open the next day, with the others phased in over the following six days.

The wing was once scheduled to open Aug. 12 and a dedication was held four days earlier. But a mandated Department of Public Health inspection never happened.

Hospital Chief Executive Officer Jim Sherman blamed the delays on the legislative impasse that pushed the passage of the state budget 67 days past its deadline. A public health official said the stalemate wasn't a factor because it was resolved before the agency could have conducted the inspection.

Ken August, spokesman for the Department of Public Health, said staff couldn't inspect the hospital wing until it had been approved by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. That didn't happen until Aug. 30 — six days after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the budget.

Sherman said he was told by state public health officials the budget impasse brought a travel moratorium that delayed scheduled inspections. When the budget was approved, applicants were waiting to be inspected, and Los Robles officials were told the new wing would have to wait.

"They just said there was no way they could do it because of the budget crisis," Sherman said.

Construction on the addition started nearly three years ago. The three-story facility, along with an adjacent parking structure and helipad, cost about $120 million.

The wing was scheduled to open in December but was pushed back by the heavy rains of 2005. It houses three patient care units, respiratory therapy, a monitoring or telemetry unit and three high-tech catheterization labs. All 90 patient rooms are private.

Designed to resemble a high-class hotel, the addition is intended to help bring the hospital into compliance with seismic requirements and provide a physical face-lift.

"We've always provided outstanding care, but our age was showing," Sherman said of a hospital building nearing its 40th birthday. "We were middle-aged."