Hospital to be UK's largest robotic surgery centre

The Royal Stoke University Hospital is set to become the UK's largest robotic surgery centre, bosses have said, following a £12m investment from the Denise Coates Foundation.

The funding would significantly expand access to advanced robotic surgery across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, they added.

The move is expected to benefit more than 1,000 patients per year and assist with a range of complex procedures - including emergency and heart surgery.

The hospital said it would also become the first in the UK to introduce new technology to enable surgeons to feel tissue resistance in real time.

The advances would improve control, reduce unnecessary force and support safer and more precise surgery, and enable the Royal Stoke to move closer to becoming a centre of excellence for robotics.

Leaders said robotic surgery at Royal Stoke had already delivered a 20% uplift in surgical productivity and cut the average length of patient stay by two days per case.

This was equivalent to saving around 3,000 bed days per year with the latest expansion expected to increase this to at least 5,000 bed days annually, according to bosses.

Across England, the NHS has said 500,000 operations will be supported by the "trailblazing approach" every year by 2035, up from 70,000 in 2023-24, according to NHS projections.

It added 90% of all keyhole surgeries, such as the removal of certain organs affected by cancer, would be delivered with robot assistance within the next 10 years, with robotic surgery being the default for many operations.

"This expansion significantly strengthens our ability to deliver robotic surgery across a wider range of complex procedures" said Philip Varghese, consultant colorectal surgeon at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM).

The latest donation takes the total funding from the Denise Coates Foundation to £29m to UHNM's charitable arm since 2014.

"This investment will allow more patients across the region to benefit from world-leading surgical care closer to home," Coates said.

"Supporting projects that make a lasting difference to local communities remains a core focus of the foundation."

In October, Royal Stoke announced it was the first hospital in England to use the "Magic Leap" surgical system, which allowed surgeons to see detailed 3D images of a patient's spine during an operation through specially designed virtual reality goggles.

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