Another NHS hospital adopts CMR Surgical’s Versius robot - and uses it for a UK first
CMR Surgical’s Versius robot is continuing its exhilarating march into operating theatres, with the Gloucestershire Royal becoming the first NHS hospital to adopt it for upper gastrointestinal (GI) procedures.
Part of the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, it adopted the surgical robot to support its vision of creating a centre of excellence.
Having begun with upper GI procedures, Versius will be soon be used there in a multi-speciality programme as colorectal surgeons are trained on the system.
The hospital is the sixth in the NHS to adopt the innovative surgical robot from the Impington-headquartered company, which recently raised £425million in a Series D funding round. The first in the NHS were the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh and Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Trust in Buckinghamshire in using Versius, which is used for keyhole surgery, to reduce the size of wounds, improving patient outcomes and recovery times.
Surgeons at Gloucestershire Royal have used Versius to perform the UK’s first nissen fundoplication – a laparoscopic procedure performed for patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease – as well as a hiatus hernia repair.
Simon Higgs, consultant general and upper GI surgeon at the hospital, said: “It was important for us to bring in Versius to the hospital so that patients having both routine surgeries like cholecystectomies as well as more complex procedures could benefit from the precision and accuracy that robotic surgery brings.
“Upper GI is an extremely busy department and adopting Versius signifies a new era for the specialty as many more patients will receive minimal access surgery and be treated with this high-quality technology.”
Mark Vipond, general surgeon at the hospital, added: “Versius brings multiple benefits for the trust and we are delighted to be working with CMR Surgical on this programme.
“One of the key reasons Versius was so appealing to us was the small, modular design meaning that it can easily be transported to different departments so that it is being utilised as much as possible, bringing maximum value to the hospital and its patients.
“We’re looking forward to building on the fantastic start within upper GI and seeing additional specialties across the hospital benefit from the system.”
Versius is in use across Europe, India, Australia and the Middle East.
Mark Slack, chief medical officer at CMR Surgical, said: “It is great to be able to introduce Versius to the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. In designing Versius our goal was to provide a versatile and cost-effective surgical robotic system that could transform the field of minimal access surgery – allowing more patients to benefit than currently do.
“This multi-specialty programme with Gloucestershire Royal will do exactly that and we’re delighted to be partnering with them on this exciting new era for the hospital.”
Read more
CMR Surgical becomes official medical device partner for ParalympicsGB ahead of Tokyo Games
Milestone as CMR Surgical’s Versius robot is used by NHS hospitals for first time
Sign up for our weekly newsletter and stay up to date with Cambridge business, science and healthcare
