Beacon Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Beacon) is a privately owned full-service teaching hospital located in the

Sandyford Sandyford () is a suburb of Dublin, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. Sandyford Business District makes up much of the suburb and encompasses 4 business parks: Sandyford Business Park, Stillorgan Business Park, Central Park and ...

suburb of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The hospital was developed by Beacon Medical Group (BMG).

History

Beacon Hospital signed an affiliation agreement with

Johns Hopkins Medicine International Johns Hopkins Medicine International (JHMI), not to be confused with Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, also (JHMI), is a partnership program established by the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to raise the standard of health care through long-term, ...

(JHMI), for JHMI to provide educational and consulting services at the hospital, in May 2006. Beacon Hospital was officially opened by then-

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Taoi ...

and Minister for Health and Children,

Mary Harney Mary Harney (born 11 March 1953) is an Irish former politician and the current Chancellor of the University of Limerick. She was leader of the Progressive Democrats party between 1993 and 2006 and again from 2007 to 2008, resuming the role aft ...

on 25 October 2006. The American

Triad Hospitals Triad Hospitals was a hospital operator based in Plano, Texas. Spun off from Hospital Corporation of America in 1999, it acquired Quorum Health Group in 2000 to become the third-largest investor-owned hospital group. It was merged into Community H ...

group took responsibility for the management of the hospital. In February 2008,

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is a $23billion integrated global nonprofit health enterprise that has 92,000 employees, 40 hospitals with more than 8,000 licensed beds, 800 clinical locations including outpatient sites and do ...

(UPMC) began managing the hospital, buying a 25% share in the company for €15 million. In 2009, UPMC took majority ownership of the hospital in a €68 million deal which gave it a 68% equity in the company. The hospital was rebranded as UPMC Beacon Hospital. In April 2014, Beacon Hospital was taken over by Irish businessman

Denis O'Brien Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for a period of several ye ...

, with UPMC relinquishing its ownership. UPMC paid €20 million to divest itself of the hospital, relieving itself of a projected $231 million in long-term debt. According to UPMC's 2015 accounts, the company lost €33 million on the disposal of Beacon Hospital and wrote off a further €38.9 million in loans. O'Brien paid

Ulster Bank Ulster Bank ( ga, Banc Uladh) is a large retail bank, and one of the traditional Big Four Irish clearing banks. The Ulster Bank Group is subdivided into two separate legal entities: National Westminster Bank, trading as Ulster Bank (registere ...

€40 million for the hospital's outstanding €100 million debt. In March 2021 in the midst of the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, twenty teachers from

St Gerard's School, Bray St Gerard's School is a lay Catholic co-educational independent day school in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. A fee-charging school, it is administered by a Board of Governors as a charitable trust. As of 2019, the student population was about ...

received vaccinations from the hospital. The head of the Irish Health Service and the Minister for Justice expressed 'frustration' at the actions of the Beacon Hospital which violated policies regarding the use of surplus vaccines. The Irish Times noted that the children of the chief executive of the Beacon Hospital attend St. Gerard's. In 2022, the hospital management presented proposals for a redevelopment which would expand the bed capacity by 40%, the biggest investment since 2014. They had purchased two adjacent sites and the adjoining Beacon Hotel in order to expand clinical facilities, create a new research hub and relocate parts of the existing UCD Beacon Hospital Academy.

Services

Beacon's 9-storey facility includes 183 patient beds. The hospital provides teaching for

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

. Around 1,100 staff work at the hospital.

Awards

Beacon Hospital won the 2008 Irish Healthcare Innovation Award. In 2013, Beacon Hospital won a Commendation at the Irish Healthcare Awards for its DocIT programme. Beacon Hospital also won the 2013 Radiosurgery Excellence Award.

References

{{Irish hospitals Hospitals in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown Sandyford Private hospitals in the Republic of Ireland Hospitals established in 2006 Teaching hospitals in Dublin (city)

History

Services

Awards

See also

References