Beacon looks at seven hospital sites

Beacon Healthcare, the private hospital group that is building a €180 million hospital in south Dublin, is looking at seven new sites in the Republic for similar developments.

The group is currently raising €40 million from private investors for a new 180-bed hospital in Sandyford, Dublin. The total cost of the development will be €180 million.

According to its chief executive, Michael Cullen, the company is looking at seven sites that could be suitable for new hospitals.

Mr Cullen said it was likely that the company would develop two further hospitals.

He added that the company was not going to make a decision until after a Government report, which is exploring the possibility of privately and publicly-funded facilities sharing the same locations, is published.

The Sandyford hospital, which will be affiliated to Johns Hopkins in the US and run by another US operation, Triad, is due to open next year.

Beacon is already running a dialysis unit in Sandyford, which is being used to treat public patients from the east, south-east and south.

The company is hopeful that the Sandyford facility, when it becomes operational, will be used to treat public patients under the national treatment purchase scheme.

Goodbody Corporate Finance managed the fundraising. The investors are private individuals looking to take advantage of a tax break for healthcare development introduced in the 2002 budget.