Data study
Australia's lowest-rated public hospitals named in a ranking of 61,000 Google reviews
The lowest-rated public hospital in Australia on Google is Werribee Mercy Hospital in Melbourne's west, which averages 2.19 stars from 1,233 reviews, with 66% of reviewers giving it a single star.
Data collected
Source: SEO Backlinks, https://seobacklinks.com/
Key findings
Victoria has three of the four lowest-rated public hospitals in the country, with the Northern Hospital in Epping second (2.42) and Casey Hospital in Berwick fourth (2.46). Fairfield Hospital in Sydney's south west is third at 2.44.
At the other end, Busselton Health Campus in Western Australia's south west is the best-rated public hospital in Australia at 4.58 from 133 reviews, ahead of South East Regional Hospital in Bega (4.27) and Nambour General Hospital on the Sunshine Coast (4.14).
The average hospital in the ranking scores 3.28. Four western Sydney hospitals are in the bottom 10, with Auburn fifth (2.50), Bankstown-Lidcombe seventh (2.58) and Mount Druitt eighth (2.62) joining Fairfield. Maitland Hospital in the Hunter is sixth (2.53), and two South Australian hospitals, Modbury (2.65) and Mount Gambier (2.71), complete the list.
Queensland has three of the 10 best-rated public hospitals, with Gympie fourth (4.03) and Cairns fifth (3.97) joining Nambour. Rosebud Hospital on the Mornington Peninsula is sixth (3.88).
Among the big city teaching hospitals, The Alfred in Melbourne rates highest at 3.76, 11th of the 126, followed by Royal North Shore in Sydney (3.74). Westmead Hospital is 15th from the bottom at 2.77.
South Australia's nine hospitals in the ranking average 3.16, the lowest of the six states, followed by Victoria (3.22). Queensland's 24 average 3.39, second only to Tasmania, where the three hospitals in the ranking average 3.47.
Chart
Worst and best 10 at a glance
Use this chart. It is free to use with a link to this page. Download the chart as a PNG.
Method
How we did it
We started from the public hospitals whose emergency departments report to the national emergency department figures published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, then used the DataForSEO Business Listings database to pull the Google Maps listings for Australian hospitals on October 5, 2026, and matched each hospital to its main Google listing.
Private hospitals, separate Google listings for emergency departments and specialist children's, women's and eye hospitals were left out. That left 126 public hospitals with at least 100 Google reviews each, 61,399 reviews in all.
Each hospital was ranked by its exact average rating, worked out from its count of one, two, three, four and five-star reviews rather than the rounded score Google displays, so hospitals that show the same rating on Google are still put in order. Where two hospitals have exactly the same average, the one with the larger share of one-star reviews ranks lower. The reviews cover a patient's whole experience of a hospital, not only its emergency department, and reflect what patients and visitors say rather than clinical results.
State averages give every hospital equal weight (the mean of the hospital averages) and are shown for the six states. The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have two ranked hospitals each, so they are left out of the state ranking, but their best and lowest rated hospitals are listed below.
National rankings
The lowest and best rated 10 in Australia
The 10 lowest-rated public hospitals in Australia
| Rank | Hospital | Average | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Werribee Mercy HospitalWerribee, Victoria1,233 reviews | 2.19 | 1,233 |
| 2 | Northern HospitalEpping, Victoria1,459 reviews | 2.42 | 1,459 |
| 3 | Fairfield HospitalPrairiewood, New South Wales571 reviews | 2.44 | 571 |
| 4 | Casey HospitalBerwick, Victoria1,236 reviews | 2.46 | 1,236 |
| 5 | Auburn HospitalAuburn, New South Wales593 reviews | 2.50 | 593 |
| 6 | Maitland HospitalMetford, New South Wales465 reviews | 2.53 | 465 |
| 7 | Bankstown-Lidcombe HospitalBankstown, New South Wales638 reviews | 2.58 | 638 |
| 8 | Mount Druitt HospitalMount Druitt, New South Wales349 reviews | 2.62 | 349 |
| 9 | Modbury HospitalModbury, South Australia440 reviews | 2.65 | 440 |
| 10 | Mount Gambier and Districts Health ServiceMount Gambier, South Australia119 reviews | 2.71 | 119 |
The 10 best-rated public hospitals in Australia
| Rank | Hospital | Average | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Busselton Health CampusBusselton, Western Australia133 reviews | 4.58 | 133 |
| 2 | South East Regional HospitalBega, New South Wales114 reviews | 4.27 | 114 |
| 3 | Nambour General HospitalNambour, Queensland271 reviews | 4.14 | 271 |
| 4 | Gympie HospitalGympie, Queensland163 reviews | 4.03 | 163 |
| 5 | Cairns HospitalCairns North, Queensland308 reviews | 3.97 | 308 |
| 6 | Rosebud HospitalCapel Sound, Victoria129 reviews | 3.88 | 129 |
| 7 | St Vincent's Hospital MelbourneFitzroy, Victoria705 reviews | 3.82 | 705 |
| 8 | Launceston General HospitalLaunceston, Tasmania231 reviews | 3.82 | 231 |
| 9 | Albury HospitalAlbury, New South Wales214 reviews | 3.79 | 214 |
| 10 | Sandringham HospitalSandringham, Victoria446 reviews | 3.77 | 446 |
Averages are rounded to two decimal places. Where two hospitals show the same figure, the order comes from the unrounded average.
State or territory ranking
Public hospitals by state, best to lowest rated
The average Google score of each state's ranked public hospitals, with every hospital given equal weight. The two territories, with two ranked hospitals each, are not included.
| Rank | State or territory | Hospitals | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tasmania3 hospitals | 3 | 3.47 |
| 2 | Queensland24 hospitals | 24 | 3.39 |
| 3 | Western Australia10 hospitals | 10 | 3.35 |
| 4 | New South Wales48 hospitals | 48 | 3.26 |
| 5 | Victoria28 hospitals | 28 | 3.22 |
| 6 | South Australia9 hospitals | 9 | 3.16 |
State or territory by state or territory
The best and lowest rated public hospital in each state and territory
The highest and lowest scoring public hospital in every Australian state and territory, with the suburb or town Google lists for it.
| State or territory | Best rated | Worst rated |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Capital Territory2 hospitals ranked | Canberra HospitalGarran, 599 reviews 3.26 | North Canberra HospitalBruce, 337 reviews 3.07 |
| New South Wales48 hospitals ranked | South East Regional HospitalBega, 114 reviews 4.27 | Fairfield HospitalPrairiewood, 571 reviews 2.44 |
| Northern Territory2 hospitals ranked | Palmerston Regional HospitalHoltze, 123 reviews 3.46 | Royal Darwin HospitalTiwi, 242 reviews 3.07 |
| Queensland24 hospitals ranked | Nambour General HospitalNambour, 271 reviews 4.14 | Ipswich HospitalIpswich, 719 reviews 2.81 |
| South Australia9 hospitals ranked | Mount Barker District Soldiers' Memorial HospitalMount Barker, 110 reviews 3.74 | Modbury HospitalModbury, 440 reviews 2.65 |
| Tasmania3 hospitals ranked | Launceston General HospitalLaunceston, 231 reviews 3.82 | North West Regional HospitalBurnie, 109 reviews 3.17 |
| Victoria28 hospitals ranked | Rosebud HospitalCapel Sound, 129 reviews 3.88 | Werribee Mercy HospitalWerribee, 1,233 reviews 2.19 |
| Western Australia10 hospitals ranked | Busselton Health CampusBusselton, 133 reviews 4.58 | Joondalup Health CampusJoondalup, 741 reviews 2.91 |
Scores are the exact average of every star rating on the hospital's Google listing, rounded to two decimal places.
Using this research
Citing these figures
You're welcome to quote or republish any figure on this page. Please credit SEO Backlinks and link to this page so readers can see the full method and rankings.
How to cite
SEO Backlinks, "The best and lowest-rated public hospitals in Australia", data collected October 5, 2026: https://seobacklinks.com/
This study comes from SEO Backlinks, which runs data-led digital PR campaigns built on public data like Google reviews.