QEQM Hospital has taken a wonderful lead furthering surgical innovation. For us, the biggest milestone was that they were able to perform robotic surgeries on their very first patients! On that Thursday, Mandy Lee, 59, was up against the odds. After being diagnosed with bowel cancer, she had a major procedure to remove part of her bowel. Surgeon Sudhaker Mangam was the chief surgeon of this landmark surgery. Their operation involved them using a state-of-the-art robotic system that was recently introduced into the NHS.
Below, hear from Mandy Lee about her initial concerns with robotic surgery and how they were allayed. She quickly became reinvigorated when she found out that the technology had been successfully deployed in other European countries. “It was a bit of a scary thought, I hadn’t even considered the possibility of robotic surgery, but I just wanted the cancer gone and I wasn’t put off,” she stated.
Lee’s operation was a success and she is doing well! She was able to make it back home just three days later on Sunday and said that she felt better each day. The advanced, robotics-assisted system that performed her surgery features four arms that the surgeon controls from a distance. This cutting-edge technology provides more precision to the operation itself. Sudhaker Mangam, consultant anaesthetist at the NHS Trust, welcomed the importance of this technological advance for patients across east Kent.
“This marks a major advancement in surgical capability for east Kent patients, enabling greater precision, improved outcomes, and faster recovery times,” Mangam remarked.
Stanley Russell, 68, from Herne Bay, who had the cutting-edge surgery at QEQM. He was to be the second patient to feel its effects. He was given extensive and specialized information by the surgical staff, all with the robotic procedure they intended to use in the back of their minds. They told him it would lead to lower levels of pain relative to usual, more invasive surgery.
The team explained everything really well and said it would be less painful than going through more invasive surgery, so that made sense to me, Russell shared after his procedure.
The arrival of robotic surgery to QEQM Hospital is a remarkable step up in medical technology. It further illustrates an agency-wide commitment to improving patient care and experience of recovery and outcomes. Patients like Lee and Russell are getting more advanced procedures. The system isn’t stopping there though, as the hospital works to improve surgical outcomes across a five-county region.