Mr Neil Walton

Reputedly a great surgeon but, as other patients and nurses have told us, and confirmed by our own experience, not a great people person. Found him patronising, old school, 'I know, I'm the boss, listen to me - and my big words- accept what I say, and go away' - and complete with an alpha-chimp handshake. As one of his nurses said - if I had a problem with my knees, I'd want him to operate on me but he's not a great human being.' Born out by our own experience - so the thing to know is, if you need surgery then apparently very good; if you need therapeutic care and information about how to cope with knee pain, don't expect any decent level of information. You should get better service from a physio. Professionally, I think hospitals should train these guys (there are fewer of them, thankfully, as the years go by), assess them, and develop their interpersonal skills.