Prince of Wales rivals best US hospitals

It’s official. Prince of Wales Hospital is up there with some of the best hospitals in the United States.

That’s the conclusion of the American College of Surgeons, which scrutinised the quality of complex surgery performed by more than 780 hospitals around the world.

Prince of Wales was one of three Australian hospitals - including Nepean Hospital and Port Macquarie -  that were deemed “meritorious”.

“This really puts Australian hospitals such as Prince of Wales on the map when it comes to producing high quality surgery,” said Dr Greg Keogh, clinical co-director at Prince of Wales.

“Our results rivalled some of the most prestigious hospitals in North America such as The Cleveland Clinic Cleveland, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York. It’s a real feather in our cap,” Dr Keogh said.

The recognition was for results of complex surgery such as pancreatic cancer in calendar year 2021 – right in the middle of the pandemic.

“It’s a terrific reflection of how well our surgical teams (surgeons, nursing staff, allied health staff and others) have been doing their job despite all the extra strain put on our health system during COVID 19,” Dr Keogh said.

Prince of Wales Hospital has participated in the program for five years, and quality care for our patients has been achieved with a steady improvement over this time.

Dr Keogh said robust data collection was part of the hospital’s success.

“The data includes how the patients fared 30 days after their surgery, so it gives us a really accurate portrait of areas we are excelling in, and other areas that we can work on.”

The American College of Surgeons examined the following areas: mortality, cardiac arrest, pneumonia, unplanned intubation, ventilator use for more than 48 hours, renal failure, surgical site infection and urinary tract infection.

“This is terrific recognition for our staff,” he said.