Glasgow children's hospital buys its own surgical robot after £1.5m gift
The Royal Hospital for Children says it is the first children's hospital in the world to own a Versius Plus system used only for young patients.
Children having keyhole operations at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow can now be treated with help from a surgical robot bought solely for young patients.
The Versius Plus system was paid for by a pledge of more than £1.5 million from the Coldstones Charitable Trust. The money went to Hi Scotland, the innovation arm of Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity, and is the largest single donation the charity has ever received.
Some children elsewhere already have robot-assisted surgery, but usually on systems that are shared with adult services or based in larger adult hospitals. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde says Glasgow is the first dedicated children's hospital in the world to buy and own a Versius Plus purely for paediatric patients.
Surgeons carried out more than 30 procedures with the robot during an evaluation phase. It will be used for keyhole surgery in complex cancer, urology, abdominal, thoracic and gastrointestinal cases. The health board says that, for some patients, robotic help can make surgery more precise and lead to less pain, smaller scars, shorter stays in hospital and a quicker return to normal life.
Open and standard keyhole surgery will still be used whenever either is the better option for a particular child.
The hospital's surgical team plans to extend the service to more conditions and to more children and babies from across Scotland, and the health board expects some families to be able to have treatment closer to home instead of travelling elsewhere in the UK. The robot is made by CMR Surgical, and the West of Scotland Innovation Hub, hosted by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, helped introduce it safely.
