Hamilton named as Canada’s best city for hospitals

For residents of Hamilton, it’s no secret that we have some pretty great hospital facilities in the city.

Healthcare, medicine, and research have long been touted as some of Hamilton’s great modern successes.

It was a tweet, however, by Hamilton’s mayor Fred Eisenberger that brought attention to our hospitals recently.

A top 10 list posted by the Edmonton Gazette showcases Hamilton’s collective seven hospitals leading the pack when it comes to Canada’s finest health care.

The publication appears to be pulling the information from Numbeo’s Health Care Index Raterankings which is fairly credible although the full breakdown behind the values and how they were measured is not available on the page so take the following with a grain of salt.

The rankings were established in three key categories, of which Hamilton was #1 in each.

The Health Care Index, which is an estimation of the overall quality of the health care system (professionals, equipment, staff, doctors, cost) saw Hamilton score 83.16 — far above second place Edmonton at 76.56.

The Health Care Exp Index, a similar measure to the previous index but instead weighs positive attributes exponentially, had Hamilton score a 154.47 — over 12 points higher than runner up Edmonton.

Then in the “speed in completing examination and reports” category, Hamilton yet again obliterated the competition with a score of 76.92. For reference, second place Edmonton scored 63.31.

If we are to take Numbeo’s index scores seriously, Hamilton ranks 7th globally on the Health Care Index, which is pretty darn impressive.

Perhaps it’s reasons like these that influenced city council in 2016 to update Hamilton’s vision statement from “the best place to raise a child” to “the best place to raise a child and age successfully.”

Hamilton’s seven hospitals are Hamilton General Hospital, McMaster Children’s Hospital, McMaster University Hospital, Juravinski Hospital, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (West 5th Campus), St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, and Joseph Brant Hospital.