Guy’s and St Thomas’ first hospital in London to acquire Versius robot

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has become the first site in London to adopt CMR Surgical’s Versius robot.

The trust hopes the introduction of the surgical robots across both its London sites will increase the amount of minimal access or keyhole surgery procedures it is able to carry out.

Patients in the urology department are among the first being offered surgery with Versius and looking ahead, the trust intends to widen the use of the technology to include patients having colorectal and general surgeries.

Benefits of the surgical robots include faster recovery times, shorter hospital stays, less pain, reduced scarring and a reduced risk of picking up an infection for patients. While for surgeons, it means they can carry out operations in a less physical and mentally demanding environment.

Prokar Dasgupta, honorary consultant urological surgeon at the trust, said: “While minimal access surgery is well-established as the peak of patient care, when performed manually, without the aid of robotics, it can be extremely demanding for surgeons – both physically and mentally.

“Versius could help us to improve surgeon wellbeing at this challenging time because it has an ergonomic design, allowing surgeons to operate in much more comfortable, neutral positions. This has the potential to enable surgeons to operate for longer, while experiencing less pain and discomfort.”

Versius is already a well established tool within the NHS, with Frimley Health Foundation Trust, Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and Gloucestershire Royal Hospital just some of the hospitals and trusts who have already adopted the technology. In fact, demand for Versius is growing at such a pace that CMR Surgical announced recently it will be opened a new large-scale manufacturing facility in Cambridgeshire.

Mark Slack, chief medical officer at CMR Surgical, added: “We are delighted that Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and their team of world-class surgeons have chosen to expand their surgical robotics programme with Versius. In designing Versius our goal was to provide a versatile, portable, and cost-effective surgical robotic system that could transform the field of minimal access surgery – allowing more patients to benefit than currently do.

“The introduction of Versius at the trust does just that, and crucially at a time when patients, surgeons and hospitals are facing significant health and economic challenges.”