THE Royal Surrey County Hospital’s operating theatre has taken delivery of two state-of-the-art ‘da Vinci Si’ robots.

The Guildford-based hospital is now one of the handful of hospitals in the UK to have two robots on site, and of these, the Royal Surrey has the highest specification of the robots nationally.

This will allow the Royal Surrey to further expand its capacity to provide keyhole specialist surgery for complex life threatening conditions such as bladder prostate, cervix, and uterine cancers.

The new da Vinci Si robots feature an improved 3D HD vision system for a clear and magnified view inside the patient’s body.

The Si robot also has integrated fluorescence imaging, using near-infrared technology to provide image-guided identification of key anatomical structures.

The instruments bend and rotate far greater than the human wrist, which translates the surgeons hand movements into smaller, more precise movements allowing for very delicate procedures to be achieved with greater control and precision.

Jennifer Price, theatre operations manager said: “This will allow us to perform more complex procedures with a few small incisions and less complications, leading to reduced blood loss and infection, faster recovery times and a reduced length of stay in hospital.

“We have invested in dual-consoles for each robot so that two surgeons may operate collaboratively, this will also allow surgeons to train during minimally invasive surgery.”

“The da Vinci Si also comes equipped with a simulator to allow both experienced and trainee surgeons to develop their skills in a controlled non clinical environment. The new system is simpler and more user friendly, which will translate into a more efficient theatre team, allowing the Trust to maximise the use of theatre time for patient surgery.    

“The Royal Surrey County Hospital is now a leading centre nationally for robotics with a focus is on delivering this fantastic innovative service to our patients, providing them with the highest standard of surgery and the fastest possible recovery time.”