Mr Andrew Irwin

Professional profile

My main clinical interests are in arthroscopy (keyhole surgery) of the upper limb joints. The most common conditions I treat include frozen shoulder, shoulder instability (dislocations), rotator cuff tears, impingement and acromioclavicular joint arthritis/degeneration and all sports injuries of the shoulder and elbow. I also perform joint replacement for shoulder and elbow arthritis including joint resurfacing and total joint replacement including both standard and reverse polarity arthroplasties.

My undergraduate medical training was in South Africa, followed by 10 years of postgraduate orthopaedic training in Bristol, Scotland (Royal Hospitals, Aberdeen), The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore and the RJAH Orthopaedic Hospital, Oswestry, Shropshire. I completed a shoulder fellowship in Toronto, Canada prior to commencing my current post at West Herts NHS Trust in 1997.

Throughout my life I have loved playing and watching sport and I understand the frustrations felt by sports people when injury affects their ability to take part in their sport.

Another large part of my practice is advising patients as they get older with aching joints that may require joint replacement. Within my NHS role I am responsible for training higher surgical trainees and I am a member of the North West Thames Training Rotation Committee.

General Medical Council Number: C3161401