Cairns region
Quicklinks
Cairns is where the rainforest meets the reef. It’s also where a rewarding medical career meets tropical holiday lifestyle. The combination of living and training in Cairns is hard to beat.
Training in the Cairns region
Cairns Hospital is the largest major referral hospital in Far North Queensland. Located on Cairns Esplanade, the hospital is a supportive and hands-on learning environment with opportunities in many medical specialties and a diverse case mix of illnesses unique to tropical climates.
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) comprises more than 30 regional, rural and remote facilities across an area from Cairns to Tully in the south, Cow Bay in the north and Croydon in the west. CHHHS also provides referral services to the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service.
Cairns hospitals
Cairns Hospital
From internship to fellowship, CHHHS has accredited basic and advanced training positions across multiple disciplines, including Emergency Medicine, Anaesthetics, Intensive Care Medicine, Medical Administration, General Surgery and Surgical Subspecialties, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Psychiatry, Dermatology, Internal Medicine, Paediatrics, Pathology, Rural Generalism and General Practice. Advanced Skills Training is available in Anaesthetics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Emergency, Internal Medicine and Mental Health. Rural rotations are available at Atherton, Innisfail, Mareeba, Mossman, Tully, Thursday Island, Weipa and Cooktown.
Cairns Private Hospital
Cairns Private Hospital offers a comprehensive range of medical and allied services including Cardiology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Maternity, Respiratory Medicine, Dermatology, Renal Dialysis, and Orthopaedic Surgery. The da Vinci Xi Surgical Robot System, an advanced tool for minimally invasive surgery, is available for urological, gynaecological and colorectal surgery. The hospital is owned and operated by Ramsay Health Care.
Ramsay Clinic Cairns
Ramsay Clinic Cairns is a mental health facility with acute inpatient services, neurostimulation services and day programs. Other private clinics include Queensland X-Ray, Cairns Day Surgery and Cairns Orthopaedic Clinic.
Research Facilities
Tropical Australian Academic Health Centre (TAAHC)
Tropical Australian Academic Health Centre (TAAHC) is a collaboration between northern Queensland’s five hospital and health services, the Northern Queensland Primary Health Network, JCU and the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine.
Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM)
Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM) has a key node in Cairns. AITHM’s research focuses on diseases of high burden in the Tropics, Tropical Health Security and Tropical Health Systems.
JCU Research and Teaching Project Portal for Medicine and Dentistry Research
Incentives
- Relocation assistance, including air and road travel, relocation of goods and vehicles through the Junior Medical Workforce Service
- Reimbursement of up to 21 nights’ accommodation upon arrival in Cairns, if required for junior doctors relocating to the area (pre-approval required)
- Inaccessibility Allowance of $13,800 per year for Atherton, Innisfail and Tully; $20,700 per year for Mareeba, $27,600 per year for Herberton (100% after 12 months, 25% paid in three monthly instalments thereafter)
- Senior Medical Officers (SMOs) receive an additional 5% of their base salary as a Regional and Rural Attraction Allowance for working in Cairns and Hinterland
Specialties in Cairns
| Specialty | Training times | |
| Psychiatry |
All training can be completed in Cairns |
Map your career Psychiatry |
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General Paediatrics – Basic Training |
Can complete 12months max training in Cairns but must then rotate to other site/s within Queensland including 12 mths training at Queensland Children’s Hospital. | Map your career in General Paediatrics |
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Advanced Paediatrics |
12months non-core training available, 18months max core training time available but must rotate to other sites within the rotation to complete training. |
Map your career in Advanced Paediatrics |
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Adult Internal Medicine – Basic Training |
All training may be completed in Cairns, secondments to Atherton and Innisfail Hospitals available. |
Map your career in Adult Internal Medicine |
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Medicine sub-specialties: |
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Cardiology |
Can complete 12months maximum core training in Cairns must rotate to another site for the remaining 24months. |
Map your career in Cardiology |
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Endocrinology |
33 months training available in Cairns with a 3mth rotation to Atherton, Mount Isa or Innisfail hospitals to complete the full 36 months training. |
Map your career in Endocrinology |
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Gastroenterology & Hepatology |
12 months core training time available in Cairns with rotation to another site required to complete the remaining 24 months. |
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| Geriatric Medicine | 30 months training time (includes 18months core training) available in Cairns with an additional 6 months to be completed at another site, e.g. Townsville. | Map your career in Geriatric Medicine |
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Haematology |
12 months core clinical training time available in Cairns with rotation to other sites required to complete the remaining 24 months. |
Map your career in Haematology |
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Infectious Diseases |
12 months max training available in Cairns across core or required clinical training time with rotation to other sites required to complete the remaining 24 months. | Map your career in Infectious Diseases |
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Medical Oncology |
12 months of core training can be completed in Cairns, must rotate to other sites to complete the additional 24 months training. |
Map your career in Medical Oncology |
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Neurology |
12 months core training time available in Cairns with rotation to other sites required to complete the remaining 24 months. |
Map your career in Neurology |
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Nephrology |
12 months core training time available in Cairns with rotation to other sites required to complete the remaining 24 months. | Map your career in Nephrology |
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Palliative Medicine |
24 months training time may be completed in Cairns, with rotation to other site/s to complete the remaining 12 months. |
Map your career in Palliative Medicine |
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Public Heath Medicine |
All training can be completed in Cairns at the Cairns Public Health Unit. |
Map your career in Public Health Medicine |
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Rehabilitation Medicine |
12 months core or required clinical training time available in Cairns with rotation to other sites required to complete remaining 36 months. |
Map your career in Rehabilitation Medicine |
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Respiratory and Sleep Medicine |
12 months core training time available, rotation to other sites to complete remaining 24 months. |
Map your career in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine |
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Sexual Health |
All 36 months training may be completed in Cairns at the Cairns Sexual Health Service. |
Map your career in Sexual Health |
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Occupational and Environmental Medicine |
All 42 months core training can be completed in Cairns at Omega Health Medical Centre; however, it is strongly advised to complete the training period at more than one site. |
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Obstetrics & Gynaecology |
12 months core training and 24 months (full) advanced training available in Cairns, rotation to other sites to complete additional 36months training time. |
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Emergency Medicine |
12 months (full) Provisional training and 24 months max of advanced training can be completed in Cairns, rotation required to other sites to complete additional 24 months advanced training, e.g. Townsville. |
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General Surgery |
48 months across basic and advanced/subspecialty training available, rotation to another site, e.g. Townsville required for remaining 12months. |
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Orthopaedic Surgery |
48 months training available, rotation to another site, e.g. Townsville, required for remaining 12 months. |
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Cardiothoracic Surgery
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12 months basic training available in Cairns with rotation to another site to complete the additional 60 months subspecialty/advanced training. |
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Neurosurgery
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12 months basic training available in Cairns with rotation to another site to complete the additional 48 months intermediate and advanced training. |
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Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery |
12 months basic training available in Cairns with rotation to another site to complete the additional 48 months intermediate and advanced training. |
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Urology
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12 months basic training available in Cairns with rotation to other sites to complete the additional 48months intermediate and advanced training. |
Map your career in Urology |
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Paediatric Surgery |
12 months basic training available in Cairns with rotation to another site to complete the additional 72 months training. |
Map your career in Paediatric Surgery |
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Anaesthesia |
24 months across Introductory, Basic and Advanced training and 12 months Provisional Fellowship Training available in Cairns. Rotate to other sites to complete the additional 24 months training period. |
Map your career in Anaesthesia |
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Intensive Care Medicine |
48months training time available in Cairns, rotate to other sites to complete the3months required rural exposure training time and additional training time. |
Map your career in Intensive Care Medicine |
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Radiation Oncology |
Full training program available in Cairns at the Icon Cancer Centre; however, it is expected that trainees will rotate through regional and metro sites in the network to ensure adequate exposure and a variety of clinical supervisors. |
Map your career in Radiation Oncology |
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Pathology |
40 months General Pathology available in Cairns, additional 8 months required to be completed elsewhere. NB Facilities cannot be preferenced in Pathology. Trainees must be willing to undertake rotations across public and private facilities to ensure maximum exposure to training opportunities, and to access all the relevant sections within their discipline. |
Map your career in Pathology |
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Rural Generalist |
Full training program available in Cairns, some advanced skills training not available. |
Map your career in Rural Generalism |
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General Practice |
Full training program available in Cairns, some advanced skills training not available. |
Map your career in General Practice |
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Flying the NQ flag in prestigious national training opportunity
A born and raised North Queensland doctor has defied the odds to make her way into advanced training in one of the country’s most competitive medical specialisations.
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Taking a passion for rural health to hallowed halls of Harvard
A short GP work experience placement in high school gave her a taste of regional medicine and left a lasting impression. Now, Dr Helena Franco, an orthopaedic PHO at Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service is preparing to take her passion for rural health to the hallowed halls of Harvard.
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Reflections on a 30-year orthopaedic career spent in the far north
For senior Orthopaedic surgeon at the Cairns Hospital, Dr Andrew Graham, the lure of working and living in tropical North Queensland proved too big to ignore and came as somewhat of a surprise.
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Finding home in the Far North
Having already spent time in far north Queensland as a medical student, Dr Ayesha Sheikh decided a move north to train as a GP through JCU in Innisfail might be exactly what she needed.
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Exploring infectious diseases in the Far North
Far North Queensland may be a long way from home for Glaswegian, Dr Simon Smith, but for the infectious diseases specialist at the Cairns Hospital, there’s no place he’d rather be.
Living in the Cairns region
With beautiful beaches and lush rainforests, the Cairns region offers laid-back coastal living with city vibes. Cairns is the only place in the world where two World Heritage areas – the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics Rainforest – meet.
This thriving tropical city is home to approximately 165,000 people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Tourism is a key industry, contributing to the more transient nature of Cairns’ population. It is estimated 14% of the region’s residents have Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage, compared to 4% for Queensland as a whole.
The Cairns region has a range of excellent public and independent schools. It boasts one of Australia’s leading regional airports, offering direct flights to Auckland, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Townsville, Sunshine Coast, Newcastle, the Whitsundays and centres across northern Queensland.
Cairns residents are spoiled for choice when it comes to exploring on weekends and holidays. As gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns is the jumping-off spot to view marine wildlife and exotic coral reef that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
From the tropical islands scattered along the coast to the lush rainforests of the Atherton Tablelands and Cape Tribulation, the scenery is world renowned. The World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest has the highest number of rare or endangered plant and animal species in the world.
Other natural wonders in the Cairns region include the Undara Lava Tubes, Chillagoe-Mungana Caves, Innot Hot Springs, Barron Gorge and Mossman Gorge.
Foodie trails flourish in Cairns, the seaside villages of Palm Cove and Port Douglas, and the Atherton Tablelands. The Tablelands produces almost three-quarters of Australia’s coffee and is home to dairies, chocolate and gourmet cheese factories, wineries, craft distilleries, tropical fruit farms and produce markets.
The region has a rich Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, which can be experienced through guided tours with the traditional owners, dance performances and art displays.
Cairns is an outdoor adventure playground for lovers of white water rafting, fishing, snorkelling, scuba diving, kayaking, mountain biking, parasailing, skydiving, hot air ballooning, ziplining and even bungee jumping.
With competitive leagues across more than 400 sport and recreational clubs, Cairns has a strong sporting culture. Qualified trainers deliver free exercise classes in parks around the city as part of Cairns Regional Council’s free Active Living program. Cairns regularly hosts national sporting teams in football, rugby league and AFL and is home to a NBL team, the Cairns Taipans.
Training in Cairns
“I think regional areas offer such exciting opportunities. It's very well supervised and we get wonderful access to the primary surgeon and plenty of time to work on procedural skills in theatre. You get to see and do things that you wouldn’t in the big centres. You’re surrounded by wonderful, like-minded people who have all come here for the same reason – and there is every chance you’ll want to stay after you’ve done your training.”
Dr Helena Franco on training in Cairns
We acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the Australian lands and waters where our staff and students live, learn and work. We honour the unique cultural and spiritual relationship to the land, waters and seas of First Australian peoples and their continuing and rich contribution to James Cook University (JCU) and Australian society. We also pay respect to ancestors and Elders past, present and future.
NQRTH is an initiative of the Australian Government's Integrated Rural Training Pipeline (IRTP) and is facilitated by James Cook University in partnership with public and private hospitals, Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC), health services, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) and GP clinics.
Cairns region
(07) 4226 8187
Central West region
(07) 4764 1547
Mackay region
(07) 4885 7122
North West region
(07) 4764 1547
Torres and Cape region
(07) 4095 6103
Townsville region
(07) 4781 3424