Dermot O’Neill is on the mend after years of excruciating hip pain while starring in the series.
MRS Browns Boys star Dermot O’Neill has opened up about undergoing hip surgery abroad after becoming fed up with long waiting lists in Ireland.
The popular actor – who plays Grandad on the award-winning comedy series – underwent the procedure with Healthcare Abroad in a hospital in Denai, near Benidorm instead of facing a lengthy stint on a waiting list here in Ireland.
Speaking about his life changing surgery, Dermot said: “Their service is 12 out of 10 and everyone who is waiting in pain for surgery should work with Healthcare Abroad for treatment. I want everyone to know not to be nervous to go ahead and give them a call as you will not regret it.”
The 71-year-old Dubliner admitted he thought the company was a scam when he was first told about them – but his pal Willie Redmond convinced him to sign up.
“When I first heard about Healthcare Abroad, I thought it must be a scam, but I gave my friend Wille Redmond a call who had a previous successful operation with them. With his endorsement I thought why not give them a call and I am so glad that I did. Willie came over at the same time to get his knee operated on, so it was nice to share a few healing laughs together. Believe me when I say everything with the whole process was brilliant.”
Healthcare Abroad is an Irish healthcare logistics agency that helps people by-pass long treatment waiting times in Ireland so they can receive state of the art treatment in EU countries under the EU Cross-Border Healthcare Directive.
The agency matches Irish patients seeking treatment with the best consultants in 85 private hospitals in Spain, Portugal, and The Netherlands. Depending on the procedure most or all costs are fully reimbursed within three to four months.
The sitcom star added: “Right from that first phone call they helped coordinate everything. Surgery costs are refundable and all you must cover is your flight and hotel stay. Most of the credit unions will work with you for the funds should you need to go that route.
“The Healthcare Abroad team looked after me and Chicki so well from the time we landed to our return home, and we can’t say enough good things about the entire experience. Thanks to Healthcare Abroad I can now look forward to enjoying life with my family again and work with no pain and maybe getting my golf handicap back to where it was.
“Everything was run so smoothly at the HCB Hospital Denia where I had my surgery by a lovely man, Dr. Henkel. The post-operation physiotherapy at the hospital was splendid. They use technology to start the healing process virtually pain-free and you are up and moving before you know it.”
Dermot previously told how production on Mrs Brown’s Boys had to set up a tent at the side of the stage because he could no longer walk up the stairs to his dressing room.
Dermot told The Irish Sun on Sunday at the time: “They had to put a little tent up backstage on all the last Mrs Brown live shows for me to change, because I couldn’t get up the stairs to the dressing rooms. So every night, I’d be in my little tent waiting to go on.”
Dermot pinpointed his hip issues to the job he held before joining the Mrs. Brown’s Boys team. He said: “I was a window cleaner for 20 years before I did Mrs Brown. That’s a lot of going up ladders. I cleaned all the windows in Temple Bar when there was nothing there but buses.”
