Timothy Walter Scannell was an orthopaedic surgeon in the north-east. He was born in Cork on 9 July 1940, the fourth son of Frederick Joseph Scannell, an accountant, and Esther Katherine née Harley, the daughter of a merchant tailor. He was educated at the Christian Brothers’ College, Cork, and University College, Cork. After qualifying he held junior posts in Cork, at the South Infirmary, Bantry Hospital and St Stephen’s Hospital, and at Birmingham Accident Hospital. He trained in orthopaedic surgery at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, Oswestry, and at Liverpool Royal Infirmary. He was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the North East Health Board. He married Maureen Daly, a nurse, in 1968. They had two daughters and a son. He died after a long illness on 9 March 2006.