FAQ

Patients can be contacted by phoning individual facilities and asking to be connected to the patient’s ward.

Visitors are welcome 8:00am-8:00pm across all Townsville Hospital and Health Service facilities.

We love hearing from our community; whether you want to tell us what we are doing well or where we can improve, your feedback helps us continuously improve the care that we provide.

All patients are encouraged to chat with their nursing staff, or their ward’s nurse unit manager in the first instance. However, you can also contact our patient feedback team on 07 4433 1074 or via email at {"ct":"dJoBqbIWQxE+1od+1e3scM9NYpVo5jFtZwMTeV8ie7YVWmZcvnnE9BtD9UURoJAH","iv":"f154f2900ad75fade67e0b773fec04eb","s":"9757e2eabd17d254"}.

For more information on providing feedback please visit our feedback page.

The first hour of parking is free
$5 – 24-hour multi-use ticket
$10 – seven-day multi-use ticket
$50 – three-month multi-use card (which can be renewed for $30 every three months).

Pay stations will accept cash (coins and notes) and credit cards (Visa and Mastercard). An ATM is located in the main entry foyer.

For more information on parking at Townsville University Hospital click here.

All patients have the right to access their medical records; however, accessing the records of someone else can sometimes be a bit more complicated. Most medical records can be provided through an administrative process, meaning there is no need to go through a formal Right to Information application. You can find out more about accessing your medical record, or the record of a loved one, through our Right to Information portal. For more information you can also call our Release of Information Unit on 07 4433 1319.

The Queensland Health Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme provides financial assistance to eligible patients who are required to travel for specialist health services not available locally (within 50 kilometres of the patient’s closest public hospital or public health facility).

The scheme assists with travel and accommodation costs only. It is not intended to cover all costs associated with accessing specialist health services.

Visit the PTSS website for more information or to check if you are eligible. You can also visit the patient travel office at your local hospital for advice. 

Every case is different, and whether or not you should present to an emergency department will depend on a number of factors including a patient’s pre-existing conditions, the age of a patient, and severity and duration of symptoms. Medical conditions that seem less urgent may in fact be perfectly acceptable reasons to present. For example, a nose bleed or ear infection in a child can signal more serious conditions. Similarly, urinary tract infections in the elderly and women who are pregnant can also be a serious medical issue.

If you are in doubt, we encourage you to phone 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) and talk to one of the registered nurses about your symptoms. Alternatively, the North Queensland community is home to a number of very skilled general practitioners who can help, including after hours. You can find out more about what’s available in your area here.

However, if you are worried, or don’t know where to turn, our doors are always open. We will provide care to every patient who presents to our departments, and would prefer to give you the all-clear than for your symptoms to get worse.

You can find out more about our Emergency Departments here.

Congratulations on your pregnancy. There are two ways in which women can refer to the hospital for their antenatal care and the birth of their baby. A referral can be made through a GP or women accessing the birth centre can self-refer.

For more information on options for maternity care or birthing at hospital, visit our Having a Baby page.

Queensland public hospitals are not free for everybody. If you are not eligible for Medicare, there may be fees charged for any treatment provided.

Medicare is only available to people who live permanently in Australia. For this reason, the Australian Government encourages all travellers to Australia to purchase travel insurance; otherwise, you may have to pay the whole medical treatment cost in advance, depending on the type of travel insurance.

If you visit a public hospital and you are not eligible for Medicare or covered by a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement you will need to cover the costs of all hospital services.

For more information visit our page on Medicare eligibility.

The hospital pharmacy is limited to patients, including outpatients, of the Townsville Hospital and Health Service and requires a hospital script for medication supply.

It is not open to the members of the public.

There is a pharmacy nearby at James Cook University, which is open to the general public.

The Townsville Hospital has a Day of Discharge Unit to help streamline patients who are discharged from hospital. The unit can undertake a number of the same tasks that would normally be performed while a patient is still in their bed such as following up prescriptions, arranging for other referral units to come and see the patient, and organising local and out-of-town transport.

The Townsville Hospital patient transport service is available to inpatients who have had a minimum overnight admission or patients from the emergency department regardless of their length of stay. Patients will be transported to their residential address, drop-in centre, Red Cross homeless centre and transport hubs only. Transport is not provided to local outpatients who are here for a clinic appointment.