United Kingdom opens its biggest robotic-assisted surgery training centre, in Winnersh, near Reading. This high-tech facility is helping to deliver next-generation training to surgeons from all over the world. For residents, it’s primarily about boosting their competence with robotic surgery procedures. The centre operates with the world-famous da Vinci surgical system. This revolutionary technology has completely changed the landscape of minimally invasive surgery.
Surgeons visiting from around the world, especially from all over Europe, are coming to Winnersh to hone their skills in robotic-assisted procedures. Today, the center emphasizes not only theoretical knowledge, but rigorous hands-on training. This hands-on experience is critical for becoming proficient with this sophisticated surgical technology. Hospitals in the UK and Ireland recently surpassed 200 da Vinci systems. Consequently, the need for talented surgeons has skyrocketed.
To date, the da Vinci surgical system has performed successful, effective and reliable surgeries on over 300,000 patients. NHS England wants to roll out robotic assistance to 90% of all keyhole operations by 2035. This blueprint focuses the nation’s attention on the growing importance of robotic technology in today’s surgical fields.
Gijs van Boxel, a consultant surgeon at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, has expressed enthusiasm regarding the new training centre. He underscored the importance of hands-on training for surgeons, honoring the— “Today, we’ve been training on metabolic surgery. We’ve got French surgeons visiting from Montpellier. Everyone is coming from far and wide within Europe to Reading and Winnersh Triangle. They are new to robotic surgery, so they want to quickly become proficient in using it. So that’s a really exciting trend and something we should take pride in.”
He elaborated on the nature of robotic-assisted surgery. “It is referred to as robotic-assisted surgery but it is very much controlled by an experienced, qualified surgeon who manipulates the instruments using a different part of the machine to allow us to do the surgery.”
Van Boxel sung the praises of what he called extraordinary progress in robotic surgery. He added, “It sounds amazing, it sounds futuristic, but robotic-assisted surgery is not a new concept, and we’ve learned a tremendous amount. It’s a surgical procedure that’s been developed over many years. Toay stressed the importance of this new technology with contagious fervor. He added, “The high level of precision that this system provides results in an improved experience for our patients and that’s our goal of doing what we do!”