Grammar

"I went to a hospital",
is correct because "hospital" begins with a consonant.
I would guess that around 5% percent of Australians (those of lesser education) would say;
"an ospital", as would a similar percentage of British people.
Note that if there is such a thing as Australian English it is identical (grammatically) to British English, as are New Zealand English and South African English.
Other opinions?

There are plenty of examples of the silent-h phenomenon. I have certainly seen written down "an hotel", "an historic occasion", and so on. (Pronounced "an otel", "an istoric occasion", etc.).

But I think the spelling is supposed to be based on the accepted pronunciation, not on regional dialect, which is why it gets confusing. Cockney Londoners would certainly say things like "an 'ospi'al", "an elicopter", and so on, but I'd be surprised if they changed the spelling.

And as for the odd ones out like "hotel", I have a sneaking suspicion that the "h" was officially silent at some point in our past. Nowadays, it's not really considered correct to write "an hotel", but that usage hasn't died out yet entirely, so it can't really be considered truly wrong either.

But I'd have to go along with "a hospital", even for Australians and Cockneys. It would be a different matter if the material were inside quotes, of course (as opposed to narrative). Then you should really report what was actually said - in which case, if they say "an", you write "an".

Rommie

interestingly , i am here because i doubted my knowledge of 'a' and 'an' usage from university, people (even lecturers) there get this wrong time and time again.