Beacon's US owner to give hospital extra €10m

THE US-based owner of the Beacon Hospital will provide the facility with an extra €10 million in working capital to fund its expansion.

University of Pittsburgh Medical Centres (UPMC), which bought a 66 per cent stake in the independent Beacon Hospital in Sandyford next year, recently agreed to increase its working capital commitment to the facility to €40 million from €30 million.

The extra €10 million will be used to fund the hospital’s extension, which will include an expanded orthopaedic unit and 31 new beds.

The hospital is hiring 35 new staff to man the unit, which is set to be completed next month and is due to open in July. The extension will bring the number of beds at the Beacon to over 210. The hospital is a full-service facility and treats about 9,000 patients a year.

UPMC last year paid the Beacon Medical Group €25 million for a two-thirds share in the hospital in a deal that included a commitment to provide working capital to the hospital.

The Beacon group, whose backers are businessmen Michael Cullen, Paddy Shovlin and John Delaney, and consultant Mark Redmond, retained a 33 per cent holding in the hospital.

The US group is a not-for-profit organisation that owns and/or manages a range of hospitals and specialist treatment centres around the world. It manages the Whitfield cancer centre in Waterford.

It was managing the Beacon Hospital before it decided to buy a majority stake in the facility last year.

UPMC’s investment allowed the hospital to restructure its debts and guarantee its financial stability. It is understood it has been trading profitably since last year.