Healthcare and medical services in Cairns
Cairns offers a full range of health services. The major hospital in Cairns - Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service - is in the city centre. Cairns also has a private hospital run by the Ramsay Group.
Several community health centres operate in the Cairns suburbs, as well as general practitioners, a large range of pharmacies, dental and allied health services, including physiotherapists, speech pathologists, hearing specialists, psychologists, occuptaional therapists, optometrists and specialists.
You will find a number of GP clinics concentrated in the Cairns CBD and city fringe suburbs, and in the Northern Beaches suburbs and Smithfield.
Various allied health clinics, dentists and pharmacies are spread throughout the region, as are natural health therapy, holistic healing clinics, acupuncture centres and massage therapists.
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service is administered by the Queensland Government and provides public health care for a service population of 253,000 people from Cairns and surrounds.
Services provided at Cairns hospital include 24-hour acute care, accident and emergency, aged care; alcohol, tobacco and other drug service; cardiac services; child and youth health; gynaecology; intensive care; medical; mental health; obstetric; oncology; peri-operative; rehabilitation unit; special care baby unit; and surgical.
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service runs Community Health Centres at Cairns North, Edmonton and Smithfield which offer a range of services including child and family health, parenting programs and immunisations.
The city's southern suburbs are serviced by Queensland Health's newly-constructed Cairns South Health Facility. The $14.9 million facility on Walker Road in Edmonton is unique because of its ability to convert from a community health facility, into an emergency response medical centre during natural disasters. The centre offers renal dialysis services six days a week.
The Babinda Hospital, 60km south of Cairns, has an accident and emergency department, visiting clinicians, home and community care services.
Owned and operated by Ramsay Health Care, Cairns Private Hospital offers a comprehensive range of medical and allied health services, including maternity, paediatric, clinical services, community information sessions, after hours GP clinic, cardiac, interventional cardiology, haematology and oncology, early parenting centre, orthopaedic unit, specialist suites, renal dialysis, robotic program and rehabilitation unit.
The James Cook University Dental School in Smithfield has an 80-chair teaching clinic offering affordable, comprehensive dental treatment by senior dental students under the supervision of experienced clinical supervisors. Services offered at JCU Dental include general dentistry, paediatric dentistry, crown and bridge, endodontics, dentures and special needs.
Accessibility and disability services in Cairns
Cairns is an accessible and welcoming city where all people, regardless of ability, can enjoy our natural environment and facilities.
Cairns is home to more than 80 general disability services, as well as employment and respite services for people with disability. The best place to find local disability service-providers in Cairns is the Cairns Disability Network.
Cairns Disability Network
The Cairns Disability Network (CDN) is a group of education, training, higher education, employment and community service providers who link together to improve the transitions and outcomes for people with disability.
The network maintains a directory to help people with disability and their carers to find the support and services they need.
The directory includes disability and accessibility-related services as well as local allied health, building, accommodation, transport, education, training and employment services that specialise or work extensively in the fields of accessibility and disability.
Braille and tactile street name signs
In terms of public amenities and accessibility features of our city, there are more braille and tactile street signage in Cairns than in any other regional city, and we boast a network of more than 500km of shared off-road paths. More than 250 Braille and tactile street name signs are located above every pedestrian button throughout the CBD and approximately 50 signs are located at school crossings throughout Cairns.
Accessibility directory
Cairns Regional Council maintains a comprehensive list of accessible accommodation, services and facilities in the Cairns region. The accessibility directory includes information about the accessibility features of local hotels, accommodation providers, tourist attractions and more.
Beach wheelchairs and beach access
Beach wheelchairs are available for free hire at Palm Cove during patrol hours year-round, and at Ellis Beach (Queensland Surf Life Savers station) during the months of April to November on Saturday from 12:00pm and all day Sunday and public holidays. Our Northern Beaches Leisure Trail, a shared path that is being built to connect the Cairns City and our northern beaches, all the way through to Palm Cove, will incorporate accessibility upgrades along the foreshore.
Liberty Swing on Cairns Esplanade
Cairns Esplanade, which features Muddies Playground, is arguably one of the most iconic features of Cairns. Muddies includes an accessible waterplay area, and a Liberty Swing, which can be accessed using the MLAK system.
Hearing loop
A hearing induction loop is installed in our the Cairns Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre at Edge Hill, and at the Cairns Performing Arts Centre (CPAC).
Change-ability rooms and MLAK key
In Cairns, the MLAK system is fitted to the Change-Ability change rooms at Woree and Smithfield pools, Lagoon accessible toilet, Behana Gorge access gate and the Liberty Swing at Muddy's Playground on the Esplanade. On-site signage at the facilities provides contact numbers to call for immediate access without an MLAK key.
Parking
The best place to find the exact location of the extensive parking options for people with a disability is on the My Cairns app, which also has a wealth of useful information for new residents.