The top 10 hospitals in France, according to an influential study

THE University Hospital of Bordeaux has been hailed the best in France for a third time in an annual study of French hospitals.

It beat CHU Lille and CHU Toulouse, which have been trading the top two spots of the survey of 1,400 hospitals across France for several years. Then came Strasbourg University Hospitals, and the Pitié-Salpêtrière in Paris.

The unofficial but influential league table, which has been published by weekly magazine Le Point for 19 years, examines the quality of establishments’ medical and surgical specialties.

The study is partly based on anonymous medical data which can be applied for use in research. It marks hospitals on how specific illnesses are treated, with scores combined to give an overall picture of how well a hospital is performing.

Nantes University Hospital and Grenoble University Hospital moved up the table to sixth and seventh respectively, while Rouen jumped to ninth; University Hospital Montpellier slipped to eighth and Rennes dropped to 10th.

Bosses at Bordeaux welcomed the news, saying it 'reflects the recognition of the quality work performed daily by medical staff, nursing and hospital for the benefit of patients'. It was named best hospital in France in 2003 and 2005.

Every four years hospitals have to be certified by health watchdog the Haute Autorité de Santé, which looks at elements such as food and treatment of patients.