A helping hand: robotics in surgery

Surgical innovation has long produced some of the most transformational outcomes in medicine. Indeed, the advent of robotic assisted surgery is now offering unprecedented precision and minimally invasive procedures, in turn reducing recovery time for patients and improving outcomes.  

There are well established challenges facing hospitals – in both emergency and elective care – that need addressing urgently. Improving the efficiency of specific functions in the hospital, such as surgery, will be instrumental to bringing down the backlogs. From lower bed occupancy, faster procedures, improved patient flow, to enhanced accuracy, reduced blood loss, and less pain, robotic assisted surgery has emerged as one of the potential solutions.   

As a result, hospitals worldwide are increasingly adopting robotic assisted surgery for a range of different procedures, but their use still remains niche in England and significant obstacles remain in ensuring they are scaled across the system. This short briefing paper explores the advantages of robotic assisted surgery and steps that can be taken to ensure their rollout.  

This paper was kindly supported by Intuitive.