But it’s a necessary attribute when you have a tendency to swim against the tide.

In fact, Gold Coast associate professor and orthopaedic surgeon Matthew Scott-Young’s colleagues call him Nemo for this very inclination, but he’s less cartoon fish and more political animal.

He was born of a politician — his surgeon father was also the Member for Townsville for 15 years.

He drove another politician wild — former Queensland health minister Wendy Edmond.

And now he’s seeking to save our beast of a health system with the aid of Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt.

In fact, Dr Scott-Young has considered entering politics himself, but history has taught him he’s safer with a scalpel.

Certainly the spinal specialist does not always err on the side of the politically correct.

Dr Scott-Young was a poster boy for Queensland Health in the late 1990s, until he became a whistleblower after lifting the lid on hidden waiting lists inside the public hospitals. That’s not a metaphor. He literally found a stack of his patients’ files stashed in a box under a secretary’s desk.

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His relationship with Queensland Health hit rock bottom when he told media Ms Edmond’s only hospital experience was from the day she was born.

Not surprisingly, he left the public service and has since been working in the private system at his Southport practice, Gold Coast Spine, where he recently discovered that thousands of ordinary Australians would be priced out of private health cover for spinal treatment under pending private healthcare reforms.

Once again, the political beast roared — and he found himself face-to-face with Mr Hunt, helping to negotiate successfully for spinal surgery to remain affordable and accessible. But his work is far from finished. Good thing then for that strong spine.

It’s frequently come in handy, including when he first pioneered total disc replacement (TDR).

“I really risked my career on that procedure,” says Dr Scott-Young.

“It was tough on the Gold Coast for the first 10 years or so when I backed the then-new technique of TDR. It seemed like even some of the guys I trained with were waiting for me to stumble.

“Years later I was at a conference with my peers when Dr Matthew Giblin showed a slide of Nemo swimming out to touch the boat, while all his friends waited back safe on the reef — and described me as Nemo.

“That actually made those years all worthwhile.”

His professional reputation is such that he even played a role in the back surgery that brought Tiger Woods back to golf form.

But while his personal practice is soaring, he fears the collapse of the health system is imminent unless changes are made soon.

“Something’s got to crack somewhere at some stage,” he says.

“Medicare covers about $79 billion in health services a year and the levy currently generates about $16 billion a year, according to government statistics.

“That leaves about a gap of $60 billion a year. That doesn’t include the cost of NDIS (the National Disability Insurance Scheme).

“Tax revenue funds health and, while health spending continues to grow, revenue from taxes has not grown at the same rate.

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“According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, we spent nearly $181 billion on health in 2016-2017, an increase of $8.1 billion in real terms from the previous year.

“No matter which way you look at the statistics — and with our ageing population, the cost of health care will continue to rise alongside the expectations of Australians that they should receive the best care available — we are currently spending more than $7400 per person per year on health. If we don’t want to increase taxes we need to look at cost-cutting but then, how do we keep the status quo on the quality of our health care?

“We need to fess up about where these costs are and work that out in the system. Right now we’re all just going about with our eyes closed.”

Dr Scott-Young says the balance between public and private health care has disappeared since Medibank Private was sold off by the government, effectively deregulating the private health industry and moving it into an American “for-profit’’ model, owned by big companies.

“At the same time that our public system is swaying under the burden, our private system has ceased to answer to the patients and instead answers to shareholders,’’ he says.

“As a result, we’ve seen initiatives like Choosing Wisely Australia, where evidence-based health policy is being abandoned through quick-fix initiatives rolled out through social media campaigns to influence consumer decision-making in healthcare.

“This is how we came to the point where spinal surgery was going to be placed in a category that would have made it unaffordable for many people.

“Fortunately, Mr Hunt listened to our concerns, but my discipline is not the only one affected. Joint replacements are still in the ‘gold’ category.

“We need an overhaul of the system and we need it led by health professionals, not government bureaucrats.’’

Dr Scott-Young recently sat with Mr Hunt to discuss proposed changes to the private health insurance reforms, and his input is ongoing.

While much of his advice relates specifically to spinal surgery, Dr Scott-Young also has more general suggestions to rehabilitate the health system.

He says the key is affordability and accessibility.

Reducing costs, increasing access to healthcare, overcoming geographical distance and creating rigorous training schemes for doctors would be part of his plan.

He says the lack of equal care and services for people living in the bush remains a priority, as is closing the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.

“As for affordability of private health cover, I would go back to a government-backed insurer again,” he says.

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“I acknowledge this is probably not on the cards but we need to keep health insurance out of the hands of ‘for profit’ companies and in the hands of the insurers run for the benefit of their members — we have enough of these ‘Members Own Health Funds’ in Australia to fill the gap if we can show the ‘for profit’ funds the door.

“While the Government is making inroads into simplifying health cover, with the introduction of the new Basic, Bronze, Silver and Gold categories next year, this area still needs more work to ensure consumers know what they are getting.

“We need to be prepared to look at our out-of-pocket costs, but this needs to be done as part of a whole reform of the business of medicine in Australia. Private GPs and specialists run small businesses, their fees may be subsidised by Medicare and private insurers, but they are businesses all the same and they employ people and have overheads just like any business.”

Dr Scott-Young says the issue of insurance has to be addressed and Australia needs to move away from a blame culture.

“One of the big-ticket items is our insurance. High risk specialties like spine surgery and obstetrics can run over $200,000 a year,” he says

“This means looking at the blame culture in Australia and moving to a no-fault system similar to New Zealand.

“If there is an issue of medical negligence it should go to a specified board … the doctor would be disciplined but there would be no lawyers coming in getting their millions.’’

Since setting up his private practice in the late 90s, Dr Scott-Young has run it as he was never allowed in the public system — productively and efficiently.

“Back then, I was told by the then-director of the Gold Coast Hospital that if I continued as I was, they would lose their jobs.

“In 18 months, I brought the waiting list down from four years to six weeks because I just worked efficiently and filled my surgical lists every week.

“But it cost too much. The director’s hands were tied. Later I discovered the hidden waiting lists — in the case of my patients, they were in a box under a secretary’s desk — and so I submitted my resignation.”

Although he left the public system, this is not the first time he has sought to aid it.

He repeatedly offered the Gold Coast Hospital what he described as “benevolent surgeries’’, whereby he would perform services for no fee under the public system.

His offers were rejected.

His dream now is to see the health system rebuilt. He just hopes we have the spine to see it through.