Bourn Hall appoints turnaround specialist to take it into ‘next phase of growth’

Bourn Hall has appointed Sean Sullivan as chair of its board of directors to help steer it through the changing landscape for IVF and move into the next phase of its growth.

Sullivan has extensive experience working with the management teams of complex organisations to help them deliver new strategies. He was voted UK Turnaround Practitioner of the Year in 2014 and again in 2018 for his work in the public sector.

Bourn Hall was the world’s first IVF clinic and is renowned for its expertise and innovation. It has established a strong presence across the east of England with full service fertility clinics in Cambridge, Norwich and Wickford and satellites in Colchester, Peterborough, and King’s Lynn.

It operates a number of major NHS contracts for diagnosis and assisted conception, but said it expects the budget for non-life-critical treatments such as IVF will continue to be restricted.

Bourn Hall CEO Dr Mike Macnamee said: ‘Successful fertility treatment is time intensive and personalised. Our ethos has always been to deliver the highest quality of patient care and to invest in research and innovation. However, there is increasing consolidation in the industry and pressure from others offering cut-price ‘one size fits all’ treatments.’

Commenting on his appointment, Sullivan said he believed Bourn Hall could ‘outclass’ competition from larger groups and the local NHS-subsidised clinic on reputation and success.

‘The team has been successful both in terms of the numbers of individual self-funded patients choosing Bourn Hall and via success in winning and retaining NHS contracts, but there is an opportunity to increase the scope of its offering and market share,’ he said.

‘It’s a competitive healthcare economy. The NHS is ever-tightening its belt. We’ve got work to do, there’s no avoiding that, so for a variety of reasons we can’t afford to slack off the pace. I am looking forward to working with the management team to achieve great things and build on Bourn Hall’s world-leading reputation as a place of excellence.’

The outgoing chair is Alan Dexter, who was appointed in 2014 after Bourn Hall was successful in fundraising to expand its network of clinics.