Celebrating a milestone for robotic surgery in North Wales
9 October 2024
Surgical teams and theatre staff at Ysbyty Gwynedd have now performed more than 140 robotically assisted surgeries – bringing faster and less painful recovery for patients.
CMR’s Surgical Versius Robot was first introduced during 2022 in the Health Board as part of Welsh Government’s National Robotic Assisted Surgery Programme, which aims to improve outcomes for cancer patients by increasing the number of patients across Wales who have access to less-invasive, minimal access surgery.
Following the successful rollout within Gynaecology, General Surgeons from across the Health Board began using the robotic system to treat bowel cancer in suitable patients and together they have now performed more than 140 robotic procedures using the technology.
Maria Pedrosa, from Bangor, was the 100th patient to undergo robotic surgery at Ysbyty Gwynedd using the CMR machine.
Maria, who has the BRCA1 gene (a variant gene that greatly increases a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer), underwent a full hysterectomy.
She said: “My family have a strong history of cancer and after gene tests I discovered I had the BRCA1 gene.
“I have a very high risk of developing cancer so it was best for me to undergo a fully hysterectomy to lower that risk.
“Robotic surgery was something which appealed to me as I heard about the benefits of faster recovery and less pain. I’ve been doing really well since the surgery, I recovered very quickly and experienced very little pain.
“It’s great news we have this technology available for patients in North Wales and I would like to thank the whole team who cared for me during my time in Ysbyty Gwynedd.”
Robotic-assisted surgery brings major benefits to patients including reduced post-operative pain and a faster recovery, which can lead to earlier discharged from hospital by up to a day in many cases.
Mr Richard Peevor, Consultant Gynaecological Surgeon at Ysbyty Gwynedd, said: “We are really pleased and proud as a team that we have reached this milestone.
“The progress on this has been really good, we have expanded the usage of the robot within our specialities which has enabled us to use it on more complex patients.
“Most importantly we are really seeing the benefits for our patients, there is less post-operative pain and they are getting home quicker.”
Mr Anil Lala, Colorectal Surgeon and Robotic Lead for the Colorectal team, added: “Robotic surgery has many advantages compared to open surgery; benefits include less blood clots, shorter hospital stays and quicker recovery and we have seen some very positive results since our team began using this technology.
“We were delighted to have reached the 100th milestone in recent months as a team and we look forward now to developing this service further within Colorectal in the future.”
A key priority of the Health Board is to improve waiting times for treatments and appointments across North Wales. While the use of robotic surgery is a positive development for the Health Board there are a number of services that have been particularly challenged in recent years and work is ongoing to improve these areas so that patients can be seen as quickly as possible.