Winnipeg’s health care ranks 51st globally

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This article was published 17/10/2019 (1643 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A study by a European tech startup ranks Winnipeg 51st among the top 100 hospital cities worldwide.

The study is based on data relating to medical workforce, education, quality of care, satisfaction, treatment efficiency and citizen accessibility, said Medbelle, the private firm that conducted it.

It looked at data points for the number of hospital beds, nurses and medical specialists per capita, as well as satisfaction, adverse effects and treatment efficiency. Issues such as the cost of medicine and the prevalence of mental-health specialists were taken into account, it said.

A combination of data points were used to score each city based on overall hospital infrastructure and to determine the top 100 hospital cities in the world. The study focused on the overall “hospital ecosystem” in the area, rather than individual institutions, Medbelle said Thursday in a news release.

It ranked Tokyo the best hospital city in the world, with the highest overall quality-of-care score. Boston placed second, with the highest overall infrastructure score, including the top-ranking medical universities and mental-health specialists scores. London was third; Paris fourth.

Six Canadian cities made the top 100 list, led by Toronto (15th) and bracketed by Victoria (73rd).

Winnipeg received low scores for the number of beds, nurses and specialists per capita, but high scores when it comes to access and adverse effects, the study said.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority declined to comment on the study.

The Manitoba Nurses Union, which has complained about the shortage of nurses and more mandatory overtime, was not able to comment, a spokesperson said Thursday.

The London-based firm that conducted the study, Medbelle, bills itself as a “digital health-care provider” for medical procedures serving private patients. It reportedly wants to add public health insurance providers to broaden its customer base.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca