East London hospitals have performed 600 extra surgeries in the last year thanks to robotic surgery.
The surgeries were made possible after Barts Charity invested £7.6 million in Barts Health NHS Trust to expand its robotic surgery programme.
The investment saw three additional robots introduced at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, The Royal London Hospital and Whipps Cross Hospital.
The introduction of the robots has also cut the length of time patients need to stay in hospital, the charity said.
A cardiac bypass at St Bartholomew’s Hospital now requires just one day of recovery in hospital, compared to four days previously.
MORE NEWS: Hospital trust among top 10 in UK for medication error payouts
Surgeries are also taking less time, with some procedures at The Royal London Hospital now taking up to around an hour less.
Dincer Aktuerk, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Barts Heart Centre, said: "Robotic cardiac surgery has completely transformed how I care for my patients - offering the same lifesaving outcomes as traditional sternotomy but with significantly less trauma, faster recovery, and a quicker return to normal life.
"It's not just a technical evolution - it's a profound human one."
St Bartholomew’s Hospital became the first hospital in the south of England to offer cardiac robotic surgery to patients with the introduction of its second robot.
Fiona Miller Smith, chief executive of Barts Charity, said: "What an achievement 600 additional surgeries are and great so many people will have new chances in life thanks to these robots."
Share