Pre-tax profits at Blackrock Clinic operator almost double to €26.3m

Pre-tax profits at the group which operates the Blackrock Clinic in south Dublin last year almost doubled to €26.3m.

New accounts filed by the Larry Goodman-family-trust owned Blackrock Hospital UC and subsidiaries show that the health group recorded an 82pc increase in pre-tax profits from €14.5m to €26.3m after revenues rose by €24.2m, or 13pc, from €158.48m to €182.7m.

The directors state that “2022 was the first year of normalised trading since the Covid-19 global pandemic, leading to an increase in trading profit when compared to the prior year”.

The directors state that “although the hospital continues to increase activity following its investment programme in recent years, the cost of providing healthcare remains a concern as medical inflation is not being matched by price increases received from health insurers”.

They state that “medical inflation, driven by the adoption of new technologies and techniques, together with the use of more expensive consumables and drugs, poses a significant challenge for healthcare providers”.

The directors state that during the year “the hospital continued to provide a substantial amount of complex healthcare to a large number of public patients including the provision of a significant number of urgent time-critical surgeries”.

The firm incurred €8.1m in capital expenditure during 2022.

On the risks and uncertainties facing the business, the directors state that “medical indemnity insurance costs are increasing significantly which is another barrier to attracting leading physicians into the country”.

The directors also state that there is a shortage in the labour market of healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses and allied health professionals.

They state that the group engages in multiple strategies to minimise this risk.

Numbers employed at Blackrock Clinic increased from 996 to 1,025 and in addition, the hospital indirectly employed 110 through catering and cleaning sub-contractors.

Staff costs increased from €64.26m to €68.8m that included a spend of €3.9m on temporary and agency staff and €890,547 on recruitment, training, medical and uniforms.

The clinic’s other operating charges also increased sharply, rising from €69m to €76.9m.

Pay to directors last year increased from €446,674 to €627,446 made up of €556,270 in emoluments and €71,178 in long-term incentive schemes.

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