PEOPLE seeking a specialist lung assessment won't have to travel as far thanks to a state of the art lung function laboratory opened at Robina Hospital yesterday.

The industry gold standard body plethysmograph machine measures key indicators of lung function and was previously only available at Gold Coast Hospital, where the service was operating to capacity.

Scientific director of lung function laboratories, Debbie Zagami, said the specialist machine had been imported from California and, although it had travelled a long way, hospital inpatients would no longer have to.

"This is a brand new service at Robina, until now patients had to be transferred to Southport so this will be much less stressful for people," Ms Zagami said.

"It is a very advanced piece of equipment and a complementary tool for things like x-rays."

The plethysmograph measures vital signs of lung capacity against standard values for age, weight, height and gender.

Hospital staff enjoyed an open day yesterday hosted by new respiratory scientist Jessica Wilson, who transferred from heart and lung transplant specialist Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane.

"Respiratory services is still quite a new area and this is machine is an industry leader," Ms Wilson said.

"Most of the patients we see are smokers or have smoked at some point so this is a timely reminder about the dangers of smoking."

More than 1000 people are expected to use the facility within the first 12 months.

Lung function testing is by referral and people seeking a health check should visit their GP.