Australia’s best hospitals, and how they rank globally

Six local facilities made the world’s best 250. See the full list here.

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Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred has again topped the rankings of Australian hospitals, leaping 10 spots to 56^th on Newsweek’s World’s Best Hospitals 2024 list.

The list, released annually, includes data on 2400 hospitals across 30 countries. For the first time, Chile and Malaysia have been added to the rankings, which also includes the US, most of Western Europe and Scandinavia, 10 Asian countries, Australia and countries elsewhere in the Americas.

“Each hospital’s score is based on an online survey of more than 85,000 medical experts and public data from post-hospitalisation patient surveys on their general satisfaction,” said Newsweek.

“The score also considers metrics on things like hygiene and patient/doctor ratio as well as a Statista survey on whether hospitals use patient reported outcome measures.”

RPA and The Alfred (97^th) were the only Australian hospitals in the top 100, with six making the top 250, one less than last year, with Gold Coast University Hospital dropping out of the rankings in 2024.

The top 10 Australian hospitals were:

1. Royal Prince Alfred (56^th; +10 on 2023)
2. The Alfred (97^th; +1)
3. Royal Melbourne (102^nd; +86)
4. Royal North Shore (134^th; +16)
5. St Vincent’s, Fitzroy (189^th; +19)
6. Royal Brisbane and Women’s (201^st; +6)
7. Westmead Hospital
8. Austin Hospital, Heidelberg
9. Gold Coast University (was in the top 250 in 2023)
10. Princess Alexandra

Dr Teresa Anderson AM, Sydney LHD’s CEO, praised the hard work and dedication of the staff district-wide for their commitment to providing world-class care for patient.

“This result is a testament to the effort put in every day from our dedicated workforce right across the district,” Dr Anderson said.

“Not only do we look after patients every day, but we are also leading the way in groundbreaking research to help patients of the future.”

RPA general manager Kiel Harvey was thrilled with the result and said it was testament to the professionalism and dedication of his staff.

“I’m very proud of every member of staff who have had a challenging few years but continued to provide patients with the best possible care,” Mr Harvey said.

“This result solidifies RPA’s place as Australia’s leading hospital for clinical research and innovation.”

It was a good result for SLHD all round with Concord Hospital climbing four spots into 24th on the Australian rankings.

US hospitals dominated the top 10 globally, with the Mayo Clinic (1^st), Cleveland Clinic (2^nd), Johns Hopkins (4^th), and Massachusetts General (5^th). Toronto General in Canada came in 3^rd, with Charite Universitatsmedizin in Germany (6^th), Karolinska Universitetssjukheset in Sweden (7^th), Hopital Universitaire Pitie Salpetriere in France (8^th), Sheba Medical Center in Israel (9^th) and Universitatsspital Zurich in Switzerland rounding out the top 10.

The best UK hospital was St Thomas’ in London which came in 36^th.

The full list is available here.