Mater investors may take stake in Mahon hospital

A PRIVATE equity firm with a majority stake in the Mater Private hospital is believed to be one of a number of potential investors in discussions with a new hospital which has had to close because it cannot get VHI approval.

Philip Sheehan, chief operations officer for the Sheehan Medical Group, said CapVest, co-led by Cavan-born businessman Séamus Fitzpatrick, had expressed interest in investing in the Cork Medical Centre (CMC) which is currently closed to patients.

Mr Sheehan said they could not afford to stay closed for more than a month and that they were looking at other investors who don’t require VHI approval to come on board.

“CapVest is interested, we have had discussions with them and meetings are ongoing,” he said.

CMC, a €90 million private medical facility, closed last week just five months after opening, blaming the closure on the state’s largest insurer to cover the centre.

Mr Sheehan said they were also “talking to the Government” about the possibility of a public-private partnership, starting with treating public patients under the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) waiting list initiative. In the meantime their consultants were “consolidating Aviva and Quinn Healthcare patients” and looking at transferring them from other private facilities in Munster, to boost numbers at CMC.

A rival private hospital, Shanakiel, said if CMC did go ahead it would be at the expense of jobs in its facility in Cork. Taking the unusual step of a public announcement in newspapers, Shanakiel chief executive Brian Martin said their motivation was to safeguard the 88 jobs — 60% nursing, 40% administration — at Shanakiel.

“There is a limited demand for healthcare that doesn’t go to the point of 39,000 patients per year,” Mr Martin said, referring to the CMC claim that it expected to treat 39,000 patients annually when fully operational. He said there was sufficient private capacity in Cork, including to treat public patients under the NTPF.

Mr Martin said they met with the Sheehan group more than two years ago and looked at the possibility of investing in CMC, but felt it “wasn’t viable”.

However, Mr Sheehan said if Shanakiel felt it could not compete “we’d gladly take their staff as well”. He said Health Minister Dr James Reilly had been invited to visit the facility. The VHI said they met with Dr Reilly last week and the CMC issue was raised “but the view was that this was a commercial matter for VHI Healthcare.”