CAIRNS Chamber of Commerce head Jeremy Blockey will urge city councillors today not to be fooled by politician's promises and keep fighting for better health services.

Although the State Government has committed to a $450 million redevelopment of the Cairns Base Hospital, Mr Blockey will tell the council in a briefing the pressure must be kept up until further commitments are made to upgrade the hospital to a tertiary level and build a new hospital at a new site within 10 years.

"The politicians have been ducking and weaving about building a new hospital ever since we've been going on about it," he said. "They've said they are buying land on the southside, but they’ve been very coy about what it will be used for. The reality is it could just be for some little health clinic as opposed to being for a future replacement hospital."

Mr Blockey said the chamber was concerned the Government felt it had placated Cairns residents and now the heat was off.

"But every time when I look at the statements being made, I think we're being sold short and the people are not seeing through it," he said.

"If the Far North is going to get a decent outcome, we can't let them go this easily."

For a start, Mr Blockey said the community should demand an exhaustive analysis of all possible sites for a future hospital and not take the pressure off until the land had been bought and planning begun for a new hospital.

The chamber has helped drive debate about future health services in Cairns through a taskforce of business, civic and community leaders formed with its partner Commerce Queensland in February.

In May, it released its official submission to Queensland Health's clinical services health plan, which raised concerns the Government had underestimated the region's massive population growth.

A key concern was the plan did not consider upgrading the level of service at the hospital, which meant Cairns patients would continue to have to go to Townsville or Brisbane for tertiary level treatment.

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