The average standard of healthcare in Italy is fairly high: the country has been ranked among the nations with the best healthcare systems in the world in surveys published by the World Health Organisation, Bloomberg and World Population Review.
But not all of Italy's hospitals - or regional healthcare systems - are rated equally.
The latest World’s Best Hospitals ranking from Newsweek magazine and global data firm Statista has revealed which of Italy’s hospitals are seen as the best.
The ranking was based upon a combination of four different data sources: the opinion of over 85,000 healthcare professionals around the world, patient experience surveys following hospitalisation, publicly available hospital quality metrics, and patient outcome questionnaires.
This year, the study ranked Ospedale Niguarda in Milan as the top hospital in Italy, knocking Rome’s Policlinico Gemelli out of its four-year run as number one. It was followed in third place by another Milan hospital, Ospedale San Raffaele.
The top five was completed by the Istituto Humanitas in Rozzano (just south of Milan) and the Policlinico Sant’Orsola in Bologna.
Spots from six to ten were occupied by: Ospedale Papa Giovanni II in Bergamo, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria in Verona, Azienda Ospedale Università in Padua, Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia, and Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Sant'Andrea in Rome.
Aside from Rome’s two top hospitals, no hospital from the centre or south of the country figured in the top ten, with the first ‘non-northern’ hospital – Florence’s Ospedale Careggi – ranking 11th.
Only three southern hospitals made it into the nation’s top 50, with the first one – Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza in San Giovanni Rotondo, Puglia – coming in 35th, followed by Bari’s Policlinico (39th) and Naples’ Ospedale Federico II (41st).
These results seemed to once again confirm stark imbalances in the quality of medical care offered across the country, with central and southern regions continuing to perform poorly compared to their northern counterparts.
Shifting from a national outlook to an international one, Italian hospitals didn’t fare quite as well as could be hoped.
The top five Italian hospitals all figured among the best 100 hospitals in the world, and Italy’s two best hospitals – Ospedale Niguarda in Milan and Rome’s Policlinico Gemelli – made it into the top 50, at 37th and 44th respectively.
Overall, Italy had a total of 13 hospitals included in the world’s top 250 list – one less than last year’s results.
Although Italy is the third most-represented EU country in the global ranking, after Germany (19) and France (17), it doesn’t compete quite so closely with some of the top hospitals in Europe.
Hospitals in Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark and Austria rank in the top 30, with Stockholm’s Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset being the highest ranking at number 5 in the world.
From a global standpoint, the US had as many as 44 hospitals in the top 250, with Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, holding the title of 'best' hospital in the world.
The UK had 11 hospitals in the top 250, with St Thomas' Hospital in London being the highest ranked (33rd).
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