QUEENSLAND Health has been blasted for its cold-hearted treatment of a little Cairns girl whose life-saving heart surgery in Brisbane was cancelled at the last minute.

Opposition health spokesman John-Paul Langbroek also slammed Health Minister Stephen Robertson for failing to change a health system culture in which patients continued to be treated as statistics.

"Let's remember what it's like to have children and then consider the regional and rural aspect … this is a child who can't just jump in a car and drive home," Mr Langbroek said.

"Instead, there is just this cold-hearted bureaucratic response of 'You will come back in three weeks and no conversation will be entered into'. There is no human empathy any more."

The Cairns Post yesterday highlighted the despair of Ruby Martin, 8, who spent a week in Brisbane having needles and tests preparing for open-heart surgery last Thursday only to be told the night before that she had been bumped off the list because of an emergency.

She and her devastated parents Stephen and Jayne Martin were then told to go home because the next available date was not for another three weeks.

Mr Langbroek said while clinical assessment was obviously needed to set case priorities, other factors such as a patient having travelled from a regional or remote area should also be considered.

"It seems to me that if the operation had to be cancelled for an emergency then OK, but it should have been rescheduled for the next day or in the next few days rather than make the family wait for three more weeks," he said.

"I've seen it happen before where there are upset families where there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to these cancellations and no consideration given to the fact they've come from a rural or regional area."

Mr Robertson did not respond to The Cairns Post's calls.

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