Cairns Hospital’s struggling cardiology team set to almost double by April 2026

Patient wait times are set to be slashed and healthcare is about to get a whole lot more more efficient with a record-breaking number of cardiology specialists joining the Cairns Hospital’s team.

Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service have hired two new cardiologists, to help meet the increasing demand for heart surgeries in Far North Queensland. Cardiologists Nathaniel Rajkumar and James Wardley will both perform heart surgery in the Cairns Hospital's cardiac operating theatres. Picture: Brendan Radke

Patient wait times are set to be slashed and healthcare is about to get a whole lot more more efficient with a record-breaking number of cardiology specialists joining the Cairns Hospital’s team.

Cairns and Hinterland Hospital Health Service has poured in nearly $8m over the next three years to fund expanded cardiac services in the region including an additional seven specialists between now and April.

Consultant cardiologist Steve Sutcliffe has been at the hospital since 2009.

He said service demands were growing by 10 to 20 per cent each year but new staff would help alleviate that pressure.

“It would mean that patients will be seen sooner,” he said.

“It’s higher than the burden of patients seen in Townsville and equivalent to some centres down in the southeast of Queensland so it's a very, very high volume of work in the (cardiology) lab.

“Patients on the cath lab waitlist for an angiogram, patients who are waiting for non-invasive cardiac tests, when the new doctors start, (they) will all come down.”

The additional specialist and nearly $8 million in funding is expected to drive patient wait times down and improve patient care. CHHHS acting clinical director of cardiology Manjit Pawar, cardiologists James Wardley and Nathaniel Rajkumar and consulting cardiologist Steve Sutcliffe in Cairns Hospital's cardiac operating theatres. Picture: Brendan Radke

Once all seven staff are recruited, the cardiology team will have 13 specialist and more resources than some metropolitan areas.

Cardiology staff specialists Dr Nathaniel Rajkumar and Dr James Wardley were the first of the new recruits.

Dr Rajkumar said Far North Queensland had been a fascinating place to work as a cardiologist.

“My passion is interventional cardiology,” he said.

“And I believe working in the public system is rewarding, so it was all good things in one.

“We’ve got more of problems with rheumatic heart disease affecting younger people, essentially more disease burden on the family, on breadwinners at a younger age, which impacts communities bigger way.

“There's a lot can be done in terms of interventions, in terms of picking them up early, getting them off for surgery, changing their lives.

“That’s what’s different.”

A staggering 12,635 patients were treated by the cardiac team this year a seven per cent jump on last years figures.Picture: Brendan Radke

So far this year the cardiac team has treated 12,635 patients, a seven per cent jump from last year.

Acting clinical director of cardiology Dr Manjit Pawar said staff had been stretched thin for a long time, but this news was about expanding the regions reputation.

“People in the department are very excited to be part of the change, the rebuild, the expansion, to be providing care,” he said.

“It’s also quite noticeable that excitement is now spreading that people going to work here.

“The most important thing, is that people realise that Cairns is a lovely place to live and it’s a good place to work, and then you’ll attract even more talent and even more clinical skills to come and progress the unit.”

Four year old Violet Catalano was born with a transition of the arteries in her heart, leaving her tiny body starved of oxygen. She required complex cardiac surgery immediately after she was born.Now Violet's mother, Tegan Catalano, is pushing for better pediatric cardiac care in Far North Queensland, with only one pediatric cardiologist based in Cairns, and wait times for children with similar conditions to Violet's stretching out to more than 18 months. Picture: Brendan Radke

The new appointments follow a Cairns Post campaign championing a call of Malanda mum Tegan Catalano who has called for better pediatric cardiac care in Far North Queensland to help care for her daughter Violet who was born with a rare and life-threatening congenital heart condition.

Originally published as Cairns Hospital’s struggling cardiology team set to almost double by April 2026