NowPatient wanted to compare the healthcare access across the UK’s biggest cities. To do that, the 50 most populated UK cities were compared based on their number of hospitals, number of sexual health clinics, average waiting time for general surgery, and number of hospitals in Newsweek’s top 50 UK hospitals.
Based on data from the NHS, Allianz Worldwide Care, and Newsweek, the UK’s 50 most populated cities have been ranked to show you the top ten cities that are the best to consider moving to should you want to live in a city with the best hospital access.
With three of the UK’s top 50 hospitals, Leeds ranks as the best UK city for hospital access. With a total of nine hospitals serving a population just shy of half a million, Leeds offers almost two hospitals per 100,000 people. With 1.32 sexual health clinics per 100,000 people as well, Leeds offers some of the most accessible health services in the UK.
Offering very accessible services with 1.72 hospitals and 1.29 sexual health clinics per 100,000 people, Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh, is the second-best UK for hospital access. Edinburgh also offers a quick turnaround, where all Scotland based hospitals offer an 18-week standard waiting time from GP to treatment.
Number three on our list of best UK cities for hospital access is Manchester, with a hospital score of 7.55. Manchester has one of the highest numbers of hospitals per 100,000 people at 4.05 and the second-highest number of sexual health clinics per 100,000 people at 3.03. Manchester even has two of the top 50 UK hospitals, according to Newsweek.
Nottingham reaches a very reasonable position on our list at fourth place. Nottingham offers a good range of services with 1.23 hospitals and 1.64 sexual health clinics per 100,000 people living in the city. An average 24 week wait for general surgery is also very reasonable, and Nottingham’s University Hospitals Queen’s Medical is one of the top 50 hospitals in the UK.
In Bristol, there is a very good healthcare accessibility ratio with 2.92 hospitals and 1.13 sexual health clinics for every 100,000 people. A 27-week wait for general surgery is also very reasonable and there is one hospital in Bristol that also sits in the UK’s top 50 best hospitals. Bristol has a hospital score just short of 7 at 6.94.
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London is home to 303 hospitals that cater to a massive population of over 7.5 million people. Of these 303 hospitals, London offers an exceptional 15 hospitals in the UK’s top 50, with St Thomas' Hospital and University College Hospital being the top two hospitals in the whole of the UK, both located in London.
Glasgow is home to two of the UK’s top 50 hospitals and offers Scotland’s standard wait time between GP and treatment of 18 weeks. However, Glasgow is somewhat lacking in sexual healthcare, with just 0.68 sexual health clinics per 100,000 people. Glasgow remains one of our top 10 cities for hospital access, however, with a hospital score of 6.79.
Home to the John Radcliffe Hospital, the fourth-best hospital in the UK, Oxford ranks eighth on our list of best UK hospital cities with a hospital score of 6.63. With a surprisingly lacking number of hospitals, just 0.21 per 100,000 people, Oxford offers over two sexual health clinics per 100,000 people and an exceptional average wait for general surgery of just five weeks.
Bringing us to the end of our top 10 are Sunderland and Kingston upon Hull, both with hospital scores of 6.43. Sunderland offers brilliant healthcare access with 2.68 hospitals per 100,000 people and an average wait for general surgery of a small 18 weeks. Sunderland falls short, however, by not having a hospital in the UK’s top 50 best hospitals list.
Kingston upon Hull also offers very good healthcare access, offering 2.87 hospitals to 100,000 people and an excellent average wait for general surgery of six weeks. Kingston upon Hull, however, also suffers from not having any hospitals among the UK’s top 50 best hospitals, according to Newsweek's 2022 report.
The list of 50 most populated cities and their relative populations were taken from worldpopulationreview.
The number of sexual health clinics was taken from nhs.uk.
The UK’s top 50 best hospitals were taken from Newsweek’s 2022 report.
Average Wait for General Surgery at NHS Trust Hospitals (Weeks) was taken from the NHS’s mycareplanner as the average wait time in weeks for general surgery (general surgeons perform a wide range of surgery, often in emergency situations, and makeup 25% of all consultant surgeons). London was given an average for all hospitals on the mycareplanner website and all London based cities were given this average. Cities not on the mycareplanner website were given the average waiting time of the closest NHS trust hospital on mycareplanner.
Each city was given a normalised score out of ten on each of the factors before an average of each of these cores was taken for the overall healthcare score out of ten.
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