Denis O’Brien appoints Cullen to run Beacon hospital

Billionaire Denis O'Brien has appointed the Beacon Medical Group (BMG) to operate the Beacon Hospital in south Dublin after he completed the buyout of its debts of €100-million-plus last weekend.

Mr O’Brien paid about €35 million for the private hospital which was previously managed by American hospital group the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Michael Cullen, chief executive and co-founder of BMG, has been appointed as chief executive of the hospital, replacing Joel Yuhas, a UPMC executive.

BMG originally developed the hospital and Mr Cullen's co-founder, Mark Redmond, will continue in his role as medical director of the hospital and director of BMG.

'No impact'
In a statement yesterday

, the Beacon said: “Today’s announcement will have no impact on the day-to-day operations of the hospital nor will it affect patients or employees of the hospital in any way.

UPMC will provide transitional services over the coming weeks to ensure a smooth handover of responsibilities to Beacon Medical Group.”

Mr Cullen said: "The vision for this hospital when it was opened back in 2006 was for it to be the leader in the delivery of innovative and quality healthcare in Ireland.

Over the past number of years we have seen this vision come to fruition, thanks in no small part to the efforts of UPMC, to whom we thank and wish the best,” Mr Cullen added.

Mr Cullen is a long-standing friend of Mr O'Brien and businesswoman Lucy Gaffney. He did not respond to requests for comment beyond his statement.