Unity Health Toronto hospitals are among the best in Canada, according to Newsweek Magazine’s World’s Best Hospitals 2026.

St. Michael’s Hospital ranked 6th in Canada, according to the national list published on Wednesday. St. Joseph’s Health Centre placed among the top 10 community teaching hospitals in Ontario. 

The annual rankings recognize leading hospitals worldwide, as well as the top organizations per country, according to criteria that includes recommendations from medical professionals, quality metrics, patient satisfaction data and a voluntary patient reported outcome measures survey.

“This recognition validates the strengths of our teams as we continue to raise the bar,” said Altaf Stationwala, President and CEO of Unity Health Toronto. “The commitment of our clinicians, researchers and staff to excellence, innovation, and system partnership – with our mission and values at our core – is what got us here. As we celebrate this moment, we’re also looking to the future and reaffirming our dedication to high quality care for all.”

This is the 7th straight year St. Michael’s has landed in the top 10, jumping up a position from 7th last year.

“This distinction reflects the commitment and expertise of our teams, whose focus on excellence shapes every patient experience and outcome,” said Kevin Goldthorp, President and Chief Executive Officer of the St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation. “St. Michael’s rise in these rankings is clear evidence of the impact our donors are making—driving innovation and helping us deliver on our shared vision of exceptional care, without exception.”

For St. Joseph’s, the recognition signals what Toronto’s west-enders already know – that St. Joseph’s is the place to come for compassionate, high-quality care at any life stage, said Maria Dyck, President and CEO of the St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation.

“At St. Joseph’s, we respond to the needs of our community in innovative ways, like better mental health for young adults and patient-focused emergency care for seniors. We are provincial and national leaders in many other areas of care including treatments for pancreatic, thoracic and skin cancers.”

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Together, Unity Health’s three hospitals, plus a constellation of specialty and primary care clinics spanning Canada’s largest city, are a national model for collaborative, integrated and high-quality care. Unity Health is committed to building a stronger, more resilient and equitable health system and guided by the mission and values established by our founders, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto, more than 150 years ago.

St. Michael’s Hospital is one of two Level 1 trauma centres in Canada and a provincial hub for highly specialized care, including neurosurgery, heart and vascular care. The hospital is home to one of North America’s largest multiple sclerosis clinics, has one of the largest primary care rosters in Ontario, and offers a range of other medical and surgical specialties. Each year, the hospital treats nearly 1,700 severely injured trauma patients, performs more than 2,300 neurosurgical procedures, and cares for the highest proportion of patients experiencing homelessness in the GTA. St. Michael’s is also one of the top 10 research hospitals in Canada. 

St. Joseph’s Health Centre – a community academic and acute care hospital supporting Toronto’s west end, is a leader in community hospital care. Serving over 500,000 people in Toronto’s west end, St. Joe’s includes a specialized NICU, Toronto’s first and only paediatric walk-in clinic in a hospital setting, comprehensive surgical services, and Ontario’s busiest emergency department—with 100,000 visits annually. It is home to specialized regional programs including dialysis, bariatrics, thoracic surgery and hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) surgery, and one of four Mohs micrographic surgery programs in the province. St. Joseph’s also has among the highest number of programs for mental health with specialists to treat children, young adults and adults, with over 40,000 mental health visits a year.

The Newsweek list published this week does not include hospitals that specialize in rehabilitation and seniors, such as Unity Health’s Providence Healthcare, a specialized rehabilitation centre and one of Ontario’s largest post-acute hospitals. Providence provides skilled and compassionate inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation to help individuals recover and regain functional independence after life-altering conditions, such as acquired brain injuries, orthopaedic surgeries, and complex medical conditions. Providence is nationally recognized for its expertise in advanced wound care, specialized amputee rehabilitation, compassionate seniors’ care, palliative care, and long-term care.

By Anna Robinson

Photos by Kevin Van Paassen

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