Healthcare Insights
Top 10 largest Canadian hospitals
The Canadian healthcare system has been publicly funded since 1984. Canadian citizens have access to universal coverage for necessary healthcare services, with patients paying out-of-pocket or purchasing supplemental coverage for prescription medications, and for vision and dental care.
These and other characteristics make it difficult for U.S.-based companies to understand exactly how to approach the Canadian healthcare market.
Currently, Definitive Healthcare provides healthcare commercial intelligence on more than 130 Canadian health systems. These health systems operate 825 Canadian hospitals across the country’s ten provinces, helping provide critical healthcare services to the people of Canada.
Below, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 largest Canadian hospitals by number of beds.
| Rank | Hospital name | Number of beds | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hamilton General Hospital | 1,273 | Explore |
| 2 | The Ottawa Hospital - Civic Campus | 1,048 | Explore |
| 3 | Hotel-Dieu de Sherbrooke | 1,019 | Explore |
| 4 | Foothills Medical Centre | 1,002 | Explore |
| 5 | Victoria Building - Queen Elizabeth II | 963 | Explore |
| 6 | Vancouver General Hospital - Jim Pattison Pavilion | 926 | Explore |
| 7 | Oshawa Hospital | 835 | Explore |
| 8 | University of Alberta Hospital | 814 | Explore |
| 9 | Royal Alexandra Hospital | 782 | Explore |
| 10 | Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg | 728 | Explore |
Fig. 1 Data is from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product. Data is accurate as of November 2022.
What is the largest hospital in Canada?
Hamilton General Hospital tops our list with 1,273 beds, followed by The Ottawa Hospital - Civic Campus, with 1,048 beds. In a close third is Hotel-Dieu de Sherbrooke, with 1,019 beds. Hamilton General Hospital and The Ottawa Hospital - Civic Campus are both in Ontario, while Hotel-Dieu de Sherbrooke is in Quebec.
It makes sense that three hospitals with the most beds are located in these areas since Ontario and Quebec are the most-populated provinces in Canada. Generally, areas with a higher population would require more beds to care for the people. The rest of the hospitals on this list are located across the provinces.
How do hospitals in Canada compare to hospitals in the U.S.?
Interestingly, the top hospitals in the U.S. by staffed beds have more hospital beds than the top hospitals in Canada. In fact, the U.S. hospital with the most beds—Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center—has nearly double, with 2,342 beds, compared to Hamilton General Hospital’s 1,273 beds. This may be because the U.S. is significantly more populated than Canada—U.S.’ population is 321.2 million, while Canada’s population is 35.8 million.
What type of Canadian facilities does Definitive Healthcare track?
Definitive Healthcare tracks seven categories of Canadian Hospitals, including cancer treatment centers, chronic care facilities, rehabilitation hospitals, pediatric and psychiatric specialty hospitals, and more.
In our list above, most of the hospitals are “general hospitals”, meaning they offer inpatient care to patients across a variety of specialties, like the ones listed above. It makes sense that general hospitals have the most beds since they treat a greater number of patients and must accommodate many different types of care.
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Healthcare Insights are developed with healthcare commercial intelligence from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Want even more insights? Start a free trial now and get access to the latest healthcare commercial intelligence on hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers.
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