Americans would say any of these statements:

* “Are you going to church?”

* “He went to school.”

* “They drove to town.”

But nearly no American would say, “She went to hospital.”

Nearly all Americans would say instead, “She went to the hospital.”

In contrast, probably everyone from Great Britain would say, “She went to hospital.”

What fascinates me is that Americans use “the hospital” — with the definite article “the” — to refer vaguely to any hospital, just as they use “church” or “school” or “town” without the definite article “the” to refer vaguely to any church, school, or town, respectively.