‘TRANSFORMATIVE’ SURGICAL ROBOT BEGINS FIRST NHS
PROCEDURES
- The Western General Hospital in Edinburgh has become the first
hospital in Europe to perform minimal access surgery using the
Versius® surgical robotic system
- Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Trust is also an early
adopter and has become the first in England to adopt the
system
- As a portable system, Versius is designed to help increase
minimal access procedures, offering the potential for better
patient outcomes, NHS savings and more bed spacei,ii
CAMBRIDGE, UK. 20 FEBRUARY 2020
- CMR Surgical Ltd today announced the UK launch of its
next-generation surgical robotic system, Versius®, which has been
used to successfully perform minimal access surgery (MAS) on
patients within the NHS. The first NHS hospital to use Versius was
The Western General Hospital in Edinburgh (one of four hospitals in
the NHS Lothian Health Board), followed by Milton Keynes University
Hospital NHS Trust in Buckinghamshire. Versius has initially been
used to perform a range of colorectal surgeries, helping to treat
patients with serious bowel disease or bowel cancer.
Dr Tracey Gillies, Medical Director, NHS
Lothian, said: “We are delighted to be creating history and to be
at the very forefront of medical science. Our team at the Western
General Hospital are the first in Europe and among only a handful
in the world to pioneer this new type of robotic surgery. This is a
really exciting development and is a credit to the team, who are
determined to push boundaries to provide the best patient care
possible.”
Western General Hospital and Milton Keynes
University Hospital NHS Trust are the first to use Versius in
Europe; however, further NHS hospitals are scheduled to introduce
the system in 2020. These include both large teaching hospitals and
smaller local centres and could open the door to a much wider use
of robotic MAS than seen to date. Versius supports this by being
portable, allowing it to be easily moved to different sites within
a hospital, or even transported between hospitals within an NHS
trust. Once in theatre, it can take, on average, 15 minutes to set
up the system.iii Across its first two NHS sites, Versius has the
potential to perform up to 700 MAS procedures each year, which
otherwise may have been performed by open surgery. The system’s
ability to be used frequently should make it cost-effective. It can
be purchased through a Managed Service Agreement, which provides
budget certainty through a fixed cost. This means Versius has the
potential to be used in NHS hospitals that may historically have
found the upfront costs of surgical robotics to be prohibitive.
“Innovative robotic systems like Versius are set
to play a vital part in delivering world- leading surgical care
across the NHS and I am delighted that the team at Milton Keynes
will be some of the first in the world to be routinely using this
technology,” said Professor Joe Harrison, Chief Executive at Milton
Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. “Versius
represents a remarkable step forward in this field and one that
could help make keyhole surgery far more accessible. The hope for
us is that this will lead to better
outcomes for patients as well as helping us to
free up bed space that can then be used to help others in
need.”
Lord Prior, NHS England chair, said: “It’s
fantastic that the NHS is the first in Europe to use the next
generation of surgical robots, and yet another example of how the
NHS is teaming up with Britain’s excellent engineering sector to
deliver world class care.”
MAS – also referred to as keyhole or
laparoscopic surgery – is associated with a number of potential
benefits compared to open surgery, including the ability to reduce
rates of surgical site infections, pain and scarring.i,iv It is
estimated that only one-third of procedures that could be performed
laparoscopically in the UK are. Across Europe currently only 13% of
hysterectomy procedures are conducted laparoscopically. In
addition, 800,000 cases of surgical site infection across all
surgical procedures have been recorded, costing health systems
millions.v MAS is also linked to faster recovery in hospital, with
fewer post-operative bed days required for recovery.i A 2018 report
by the Office of Health Economics found that a shift to MAS led to
a reduction in the average length of stays for gynaecology patients
from 5.5 days to just 1.5 days in 95% of cases.vi
“Today is another pivotal milestone for Versius
as it continues to demonstrate unprecedented value to patients,
surgeons and the NHS,” commented Mark Slack, Chief Medical Officer
at CMR Surgical. “We set out to design a system that was versatile,
portable and cost-effective, and it is immensely rewarding to see
it now being used in the NHS – one of the most thorough and
clinically rigorous health systems in the world. We are intent on
ensuring the responsible introduction of this technology, and the
skilled expertise and focus on innovative research at these NHS
sites make them the ideal place for this technology. Our focus now
will be on working with the surgical community across the UK to
provide the option of minimal access surgery to everyone who may
benefit.”
Versius has been carefully designed to enhance
how surgeons perform MAS procedures including for major
gynaecological and colorectal surgery. Three independent arms,
which replicate those of a human in size and shape, are coupled
with 3D visualisation and unique instrument controls that allow the
surgeon to mimic their own human movement, enabling precise
surgeries while also making long procedures less strenuous. As part
of the introduction of Versius, a clinical registry has been
established to provide a database of patient outcomes information
to support patient safety, as well as technical data that can
support assisted learning and help optimise Versius’ use in the
future.
CMR Surgical is a global company headquartered
in the UK that works alongside surgeons and hospitals across the
world to make MAS a reality for more patients who may benefit.
-- ENDS --
*Estimates are based on CMR modelling using
2017/18 NHSE data from selected general surgery; urology; gynae and
head and neck procedures.
MEDIA CONTACTSSarah Ghabina,
Communications Lead, CMR Surgical sarah.ghabina@cmrsurgical.com |
+44 (0)1223 755801
Ashley Davis-Marin, Senior Communications
Executive, CMR SurgicalAshley.Davis-Marin@cmrsurgical.com | +44
(0)1223 755801
Anna Radnavale, Director, akt health
communications anna@akthealthcomms.com | +44 (0)7971 313 240
NOTES TO
EDITORS
About NHS Lothian
NHS Lothian is the UK’s second largest health
authority, has 21 hospitals, 126 GP practices, 180 community
pharmacies, 173 dental practices and 112 ophthalmic practices. NHS
Lothian provides a comprehensive range of primary, community-based
and acute hospital services for the populations of Edinburgh,
Midlothian, East Lothian and West Lothian. It also provides many
services for patients in the Borders and in Fife and is a national
centre of expertise for some specialties provided to people across
Scotland. NHS Lothian has an annual budget of £1.6 billion and
employs approximately 26,000 staff.
About Milton Keynes University
Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Milton Keynes University Hospital (MKUH) NHS
Foundation Trust is a medium sized district hospital that provides
a full range of acute hospital services and an increasing number of
specialist services to the growing population of Milton Keynes and
the surrounding areas. With around 550 beds and employing more than
4,000 staff, the hospital sees and treats appropriately 400,000
patients each year comprising of both outpatient and emergency
attendances.
MKUH is a digital pioneer and one of 18
hospitals named as a ‘fast follower’ of NHS England’s Global
Digital Exemplars programme. Versius is just one of a number of
digital innovations that is helping to improve the lives of both
patients and staff in Milton Keynes.
About the Versius Surgical
Robotic System
Versius resets expectations of robotic surgery
by providing a versatile system that is portable, transportable and
affordable. This is made possible because of its elegant form
factor, modular design and individually cart-mounted arms. Versius
can move between operating rooms and even hospitals/clinics and
gives the surgical team excellent access to the patient at all
times.
Biomimicking the human arm, Versius allows
surgeons the freedom of port placement, but with the benefits of
small fully-wristed instruments. With 3D HD vision, easy-to adopt
instrument control and a choice of ergonomic working positions, the
new open surgeon console has the potential
to reduce stress and fatigue
and extend the
careers of surgeons.
CMR Surgical provides a robust training
programme to the full surgical team as part of its offering. This
comprises: a bespoke online portal; Versius trainer for surgeons;
residential training; Peer to peer support. A central goal of our
training programme is to ensure that operations performed with
Versius achieve the highest possible levels of efficacy and safety.
We continually update our processes to reflect real-world practice
and the needs of surgical teams.
About CMR Surgical
Limited
CMR Surgical is a British private limited
company developing the next-generation universal robotic system,
Versius, for MAS. The company received the European CE Mark in
March 2019 for the Versius Surgical Robotic System.
The vision behind CMR Surgical is to make MAS
universally accessible and affordable, transforming the existing
market for surgical robotics while also addressing the six million
people who still undergo open surgery each year.i
Global annual revenues for robot-assisted MAS are presently
approximately $4 billion and are anticipated to reach $20 billion
by 2025.vii
CMR Surgical, formed in 2014, has its headquarters in Cambridge,
United Kingdom and is backed by an international shareholder base
of specialist and generalist investors.
For further information, please visit www.cmrsurgical.com.
Follow us on Twitter @CMRSurgical
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References
i McWilliams, Andrew. (2009, March). The Market for Minimally
Invasive Medical Devices. BCC Research, p.14ii Data on file -
Scenario Based Estimates of the Potential Impact of Versius on the
NHS in England, Using Financial Modelling Outputs (2019)iii NHS
Lothian data on fileiv Cooper et al BMJ. 2015;349v P.J. Jenks a, *,
M. Laurent b, S. McQuarry c, R. Watkins b Journal of Hospital
Infection 2014, 86 24-33vi OHE, 2018. Barriers to Uptake of Minimal
Access Surgery in the United Kingdom. P. 47vii Industry Forecast,
Accuray Research