Daniel Fagan – Spinal Surgeon
MBChB MRCS (Eng) FRCS (Tr & Orth) PGDipBA
Consultant Spinal Surgeon
Mr Dan Fagan is a leading consultant spinal surgeon with over 25 years’ experience based in Darlington, Harrogate and Stockton-on-Tees.
Experience and Expertise
Mr Dan Fagan specialises in balloon kyphoplasty for trauma and osteoporotic fractures, adult degenerative spinal conditions and minimally invasive spinal surgery, alongside percutaneous discectomy, cervical disc replacement and treatment of low back pain. He practises at Circle Health Woodlands Hospital, The Duchy Hospital, and Nuffield Tees Hospital.
In this context he has performed hundreds of successful lumbar spinal fusion operations, discectomy operations, cervical disc replacements and cervical fusions. During his career in the NHS, he performed many complex operations to help both children and adults with scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and cancer surgery with good outcomes.
During this time, he also managed hundreds of emergency cases including adult spinal trauma in isolation, or within the sphere of multiple-trauma and critically injured patients, with his skill and dedication allowing many people to recover from what otherwise might have been life changing injuries.
He has been running his own full time private practice since 2012 to help people with spinal problems with the empathy, consideration, and cutting-edge techniques that successful treatment of these conditions demand. This is summed up by Mr Fagan as “choosing the right operation for the right condition at the right time” for his patients.
Education
Dan Fagan is highly qualified with an MBChB from Bristol University in 1995, MRCS (Eng.) and FRCS (Tr&Orth) from the Royal College of Surgeons of England. His background in orthopaedic and trauma surgery was developed with spinal surgery experience at some of the best spinal centres in the UK including Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) Oswestry and detailed spinal fellowship training with the Nottingham Spinal Fellowship in 2003-2004. He has developed his own expertise in treating painful spinal conditions and complex reconstruction of the whole spine. He took up his first Consultant position in the NHS in 2007 at James Cook University Hospital.
More recently he has completed the Circle Health Senior Leadership course and has a postgraduate degree in Executive Management from Liverpool Business School.
Special Interests
Mr Fagan, who is the only surgeon in the region to offer expertise in percutaneous discectomy, or laser discectomy, is also an expert in balloon kyphoplasty. He brought this treatment to patients with osteoporotic fractures in the area 16 years ago. .
Mr Fagan was an early adopter of minimally invasive treatment of back pain with minimal access spinal fusion in 2007 and of osteoporotic fractures of the spine with vertebral body augmentation, and his research into this, as well as various other orthopaedic and spinal surgery topics, has been published in various peer-reviewed journals. This has led to him being invited to speak at international meetings and teach these techniques to other consultants.
He regularly treats elite athletes and works with the British Horseracing Authority to treat injured jockeys.
Professional Membership
Mr Fagan is a respected clinical leader and has been an advisor for the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE). He is currently the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee and is part of the senior management team, and Chairman of the Clinical Governance Committee responsible for patient safety at Woodlands Hospital. He is also a Clinical Chairman at Circle Health Group which involves service development for spinal services at National level in his role as Chairman of the Spinal Services Group.
Mr Fagan is a member of various professional organisations including the British Association of Spinal Surgeons (BASS), British Scoliosis Society (BSS) and AO International Spine.
He also sits on the Local Health & Wellbeing Board as an elected member of Stockton Borough Council. This influences local NHS care delivery and services through the new Integrated Care Board (ICB).
Conditions Treated
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- Spinal deformity
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- Spinal stenosis
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- Low back pain
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- Cervical stenosis
