General News
12 November, 2025
Specialists are all heart
A RECORD number of cardiologists are to be employed in a nearly $8 million investment in cardiac care at Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS).
CHHHS chief executive Leena Singh said the health service was seeing increasing demand on cardiac services and there was a need to keep pace with the growing number of patients which had more than tripled in recent years.
A total 12,635 outpatients have been treated by the cardiac team so far this year, with the average inpatient length of stay increasing by more than 7% in the past 12 months.
“This is why we are investing $7.8 million over three years to expand cardiac services, including recruiting extra staff and upgrading clinical software for rural hospitals,” Ms Singh said.
“We have started recruiting new medical, nursing, allied health and pharmacy staff, including employing four new cardiologists,” she said.
“Expanding our cardiac care team is a testament to our dedication to our goals of maintaining the highest standards of medical excellence and patient satisfaction.
“We have also factored cardiac services into our master planning process for Cairns Hospital to ensure the service is given enough space for future patient demand.”
Two new cardiologists, Drs Nathaniel Rajkumar and James Wardley, recently started work at Cairns Hospital.
“We have offered full-time jobs to an additional five cardiologists and expect them to arrive over the next eight months, bringing the total number of heart specialists working at CHHHS to 13 by April 2026, nearly doubling the team’s capacity,” Ms Singh said.
“This is the largest number of cardiologists we have ever recruited in the history of our health service and even though specialists are in short supply nationally – particularly in regional areas – our reputation has lured world-class cardiologists to Cairns.”
Cairns Hospital director of cardiology services, Justin Ryan, said the additional clinicians would help bolster the cardiac outreach service, which covered an enormous footprint stretching as far south as Tully and as Far North as Thursday Island.
“Last year, more than 3100 patients were able to receive specialist care closer to home through our outreach service,” he said.
“That is the highest number of cardiac patients being seen in outreach in Queensland.”
