Live robotic surgery: A two-day major teaching and training event at NGH

A major regional educational event on the use of surgical robots for things like bowel cancer is being organised by Northampton General Hospital this week.

The Midlands Robotic Symposium - due to be held in the Cripps Centre at NGH on October 5-6 - has attracted about 50 consultants and senior doctors from across the country and includes expert speakers from both the UK and abroad.

The event has been organised by Mr Jamil Ahmed - a Consultant Laparoscopic General and Colorectal Surgeon at NGH and a Surgical Tutor for the Royal College of Surgeons.

He said: “This is an exciting event which is the first of its kind for us and is an opportunity for surgeons and trainee surgeons to discover different perspectives on how surgical robots are being used.

“It focusses on the care of patients and enables doctors to train together and to share their expertise and experience with each other.

“There will be lectures and training opportunities including, with the full permission of patients, the innovative use of the live-streaming of robotic operations as part of the teaching work.

“While live-streaming is done routinely in surgical training this is the first time - thanks to some new technology called “Digital Hub and Telepresence”, (which came with the purchase of our own robot) that we have been able to deliver it from Northampton General Hospital.”

Since February 2022 Northampton General Hospital has carried out more than 320 robotic operations - which involves surgeons using controls which guide instruments ‘held’ by the robot to carry out precise key-hole operations. These types of operations cause less scarring and are much quicker to recover from than conventional surgery.

Northampton General Hospital hopes this will be the first of many training events and will help towards its aspiration of becoming a centre for robotic surgery.