SickKids named world’s best pediatric hospital in new ranking

SickKids is celebrated its 150th birthday this year. (Photo courtesy Carlos Osorio/SickKids Foundation)

The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto has topped a new list ranking the world’s top pediatric hospitals.

The list was released by Newsweek and Statista as part of a wider ranking of the best specialized hospitals across the globe.

The magazine says that the rankings are based on the results of a survey “in which tens of thousands of medical professionals were invited to give recommendations in their area of expertise.”

The rankings also factor in accreditation data and patient-reported outcome measures, Newsweek says. The survey was conducted between May and July 2024 and accounts for approximately 90 per cent of the criteria used by Newsweek.

“As we’ve celebrated our 150th anniversary this year, I’ve often remarked that the care, research and learning that happen at SickKids are second to none — this ranking reaffirms that,” SickKids CEO Dr. Ronald Cohn said in a press release.

The newest list bumps SickKids up to number one from the second spot in last year’s rankings, replacing the Boston Children’s Hospital.

There are three other Canadian hospitals ranked in the top 50 for pediatric care. BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver (# 8), Calgary’s Alberta Children’s Hospital (#12), and another Edmonton hospital Stollery Children’s Hospital (# 40).

A total of 250 hospitals were ranked in the category.

In their press release, SickKids said “the core of the strategy” is focusing on precision child health, which means “moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach to one that is individualized to each patient’s unique characteristics and driving advancements in patient outcomes and fueling discoveries through responsible artificial intelligence adoption.”

The ranking highlighted two areas in which SickKids excelled, neonatology and oncology.

Neonatology is the care of newborn babies, especially ones with medical complications.

Oncology is the study of cancer, and SickKids told CTV News that they have one of the largest departments of its kind in North America. SickKids registers about 275 new cancer cases every year and uses “novel and innovative therapies,” to treat the children with the highest risk cancers through a clinical trials program, it says.

The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre ranked ninth on the list in oncology, while Toronto General Hospital ranked 15th for heart surgery and 24th for cardiology.

Other Toronto hospitals included in the rankings included Mount Sinai Hospital (#27) and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (#48) in neurology. The Krembil Neuroscience Centre, part of the University Health Network, was ranked 28th in neurosurgery.