For the sixth year in a row, Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket has been named to Newsweek's ranking of the world’s best hospitals.
In the latest list, Southlake has raised its position by two spots, making it among the top 10 hospitals in Ontario and top 25 hospitals in Canada, according to an online post.
“It’s an honour for Southlake to be recognized among the best hospitals in the country for six years in a row,” said Southlake president and CEO Dr. Paul Wood. “The communities we serve have grown significantly since that first award, but so has our dedication to providing leading-edge care.
"Thank you to our incredible physicians, nurses and staff who work tirelessly to create the best experiences for patients," Wood added.
Barrie's Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) came in at No. 71 with a score of 70.5 per cent.
Four Toronto hospitals — Toronto General, Sunnybrook, Mount Sinai and North York — secured the top spots in the rankings.
Southlake’s emergency department sees more than 115,000 visits every year, meaning a new patient arrives every four and a half minutes, according to the hospital.
Southlake has developed a "unique" model of care to reduce wait times, with patients now waiting an average of 45 minutes or less before a first assessment by a physician.
“This achievement reflects the hard work and dedication of our team to building strong, healthy communities,” said chief of staff Dr. Charmaine van Schaik. “As we look toward the future, patients and families can trust that we will to continue to raise the bar through compassionate and high-quality care, innovative partnerships and amazing people.”
Powered by data firm Statista, the World’s Best Hospitals ranking by Newsweek was developed with input from a global board of medical experts supporting the continuous development of the ranking’s methodology, the hospital said. Four data sources were used to evaluate the best medical institutions in 30 countries:
- Recommendations from medical experts: an international online survey sent to more than 80,000 health-care professionals;
- Patient experience: publicly available data from existing patient surveys was used to analyze patient experience;
- Patient reported outcome measures: standardized, validated questionnaires completed by patients to measure their perception of their functional well-being and quality of life;
- Hospital quality metrics: quality of care measures for specific treatments, and indicators such as hygiene measures and patient safety.
