Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Dan Fagan is a driven man. He is a leading spinal surgeon, a local councillor and a loving family man. He is also an enthusiastic sportsman, playing tennis regularly and enjoying track days with a classic Porsche race car.

His interest in medicine stems from his father David, chief paediatric pathologist at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham. “I admired his dedication and humble approach to clinical excellence, and pursuit of the truth in some very challenging cases,” says Dan. “My dad always had the patient and their family at heart, and this is still something I very firmly believe in in my own practice today.”

Dan was always interested in how the human body works, and the science behind it, but ‘briefly flirted’ with the idea of going into the oil industry. “I often wonder how different my life would have been,” he says. He was already thinking about a career in medicine when he passed his A Levels. He enrolled at Bristol University, where he met his wife, Vassiliki, who also later trained as a surgeon, and after a stint at a trauma unit in France, did three years’ clinical training at a variety of hospitals around Bristol. His interest in surgery started when he was doing his internship and, during a six-month surgical rotation, he thought “this is for me”.

Now Dan is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. Over the years, he’s perfected his surgical techniques, working with some very famous spinal surgeons. He’s been trained to operate on the spine from top to toe, and to carry out some extraordinary, cutting-edge procedures, such as open anterior approaches – accessing the spine by opening the chest. He now uses the percutaneous approach, with minimal access surgery from the back, which is revolutionary in its own right, and produces better outcomes and quicker recovery times for patients. It is one of his favourite operations, and he is the only surgeon in the region to offer this.

Dan became a consultant in 2007, and moved up to the North-East to take up the position of Consultant Spinal Surgeon at James Cook University Hospital. Along with his colleagues, he was involved with advanced surgery, such as paediatric scoliosis; correcting spinal deformities in children; major adult reconstructions; tumour and trauma; all the while building up his own expertise based upon his extensive training.

He was one of the first surgeons in the UK to travel to the States, to learn minimal access surgery and bring those techniques to the region. “My motto of ‘The right operation, for the right patient, at the right time’, was not always possible in the NHS, so I set up my own practice where I could concentrate on delivering my own top-notch care,” he says. In 2012, he decided to leave the NHS to go full-time with his private work. “I wanted to take control of my own life; spend more time with my family and have the things that many people take for granted,” he explains.

Dan developed a working relationship with private hospitals; primarily with the Woodlands, in Darlington, part of the Circle Health Group – the UK’s largest private hospital group – and the Nuffield, Stockton. He chairs the National Spinal Steering Group for Circle Health and is Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee at the Woodlands, where he is also Chair of  Clinical Governance.

“I am really pleased to be involved in a more senior role within Circle Health Group, using some of my skills in that way to develop my career,” he says.

(Image: Spine Art) Introducing Open Evenings at Woodlands Hospital has proved very popular for potential patients who want more information before committing to self-pay for treatment by Dan and his team.

“My goal is to offer prompt, expert treatment; for people to be able to access an expert who knows how to treat them effectively, in order to to get them back to work and back to sports,” he says. “A lot of the issues I deal with affect people between the ages of 35 and 55, so whilst these people are waiting for treatment, they often can’t work.”

The quiet of lockdown resulted in Dan standing – and being elected – as a Conservative councillor on Stockton Borough Council, which includes sitting on the Medical Board that has oversight and strategy input to the healthcare delivered by the NHS in the wider region. “This has allowed me to help people, and the community, in a different way from my surgery,” he says. “It also involves a different skill set!”

And, as if he isn’t busy enough, he has completed a Business and Executive postgraduate degree sponsored by Circle Health Group. “Full time education wasn’t something I envisaged when I became a consultant.” he laughs. “I actually vowed that I was never going to take another exam, but once you get into it, it’s fun learning something new.”

By Heather Barron

spineart.org

circlehealthgroup.co.uk/hospitals/woodlands-hospital