Surgeons at the Newcastle Surgical Training Centre are training with pioneering robots that could carry out future operations, as the centre becomes the first national hub for surgical robotics.
The centre, based at the Freeman Hospital and part of the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust, has received nearly £8m in funding from UK Research and Innovation's Innovate UK agency. Health chiefs told ChronicleLive that robots are already used in specialities from general surgery to orthopaedics.
Robots improving surgery precision
The robots help improve procedures such as knee replacements or complex urological operations. Theatre technician Nathan Robson explained that robotics allows traditional tools, like suturing scissors or an electro-cautery device used to cut or manipulate tissue, to be "shrunk right down" to increase precision.
The NHS team spoke at a START (Surgical Training in Advanced Robotic Technology) event, a collaboration between the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust and the wider Shelford group of trusts.
National hub for robotics adoption
Last month, Innovate UK announced £7.4m would fund the centre becoming a "robotics adoption hub". The team at the Freeman will bring together best practice from around the UK and help NHS trusts "overcome barriers" to bring robot-assisted surgery to more patients safely.
Prof David Deehan, co-director of the centre, said: "It's humbling. We will be a repository - a centre where we will take in the knowledge of so many great centres and refine that, repurpose it so other units which are not quite as fortunate can learn from this, share knowledge and incorporate this technology more quickly."
Benefits for patients
NHS bosses believe robotic surgery can mean smaller incisions, less pain, less blood loss, and quicker recovery for some patients. NHS England projects that half a million operations each year could involve surgical robots by 2035.
