Seven Aussie hospitals make global top 250

A certain Victorian-era prince may just be the key to quality.

Seven Australian hospitals have been named in the world’s top 250 with Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred the highest ranked, at number 66.

Newsweek’s “World’s Top 250 hospitals” list spans 28 countries and ranks hospitals. Over 80,000 medical experts responded to an initial survey where they recommended hospitals in their own countries. The hospitals were then assigned a score and ranked according to results from patient surveys, hospital quality metrics and patient reported outcome measures.

The top-ranked Australian hospitals were the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (66^th), The Alfred (98^th), The Royal North Shore Hospital (150^th), the Royal Melbourne Hospital (188^th), the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (207), St Vincent’s Hospital Fitzroy (208^th), and the only non-metropolitan facility to make it, Gold Coast University Hospital (224^th).

The 28 countries featured on the list were Switzerland, The Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Japan, South Korea, India, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Israel, Singapore and Australia. Taiwan climbed into the top 250 this year; the remaining countries were on last year’s top 250 list.

AIHW data on time spent in emergency departments, healthcare associated bloodstream infections and waiting times for elective surgery were also used to rank the top 65 Australian hospitals.

There was a 4.06% difference in scores between The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (92.32%) and The Alfred (88.26%). Royal North Shore Hospital – which ranked third among Australian hospitals overall – had a score of 85.97%. Scores for hospitals ranked eighth and lower consistently showed little variation (less than one percentage point, and with differences as low as 0.02%). This trend continued until the 65^th hospital on the list – Maroondah Hospital in Victoria with a score of 71.0%.

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Gold Coast University Hospital (7^th in Australia, 224th in the world) was the top-ranked non-metropolitan hospital on the list. John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle (18^th nationally), Nambour General Hospital (23^rd nationally), the Tweed Hospital (24^th nationally) and the Orange Health Service (25^th nationally) rounded out the top five regional facilities.

The top 10 best Australian hospitals:

1. Royal Prince Alfred (92.32%)
2. The Alfred (88.26%)
3. Royal North Shore (85.97%)
4. Royal Melbourne (85.65%)
5. Royal Brisbane and Women’s (83.91%)
6. St Vincent’s Hospital – Fitzroy (83.67%)
7. Gold Coast University (81.24%)
8. Prince Charles Hospital (79.79%)
9. Sir Charles Gairdner (79.63%)
10. Austin Hospital (78.96%)

The Royal Melbourne hospital also featured four times on Newsweek’s “Best Specialist Hospitals” list, ranking 24th in neurology, 35th in orthopaedics, 39th in endocrinology, and 41st in cardiac surgery.

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