Innovative Fellowship helps train more surgeons in robotic-assisted surgery

13 August, 2024

A surgeon at Ysbyty Gwynedd has become the first in Wales to complete a unique robotic knee surgery training programme.

The use of robotic-assisted surgery has gained momentum within the world of Orthopaedic surgery at Ysbyty Gwynedd since 2021 when they became the first hospital in Wales to perform robotic knee-replacements.

Earlier this year the hospital also became the first NHS robotic training centre in the country to train other surgeons in robotic knee surgery. As part of this, Zimmer Biomet who provide the ROSA system provided the opportunity to create a Hip and Knee Robotic Fellowship role. This provides senior surgeons the opportunity to work with the Health Board for six months and train in robotics before applying for their Consultant role.

Mr Nishu Gupta, from Somerset, was the first surgeon to complete the six-month fellowship programme and has praised the team for the support and training he received.

He said: “There are not many opportunities across the UK for fellowships such as this so it is fantastic to be accepted and it has helped me to develop new skills before applying for my first Consultant role.

“It was a privilege working alongside Mr Muthu Ganapathi, Mr Agustin Soler and Mr Koldo Azurza to learn from them and see the benefits robotic surgery can have for patients.

“I was able to learn and operate independently doing robotic joint replacements. The concept of personalised joint replacement has been a revelation and I will now be able to apply this for my patients.

“As well as an excellent fellowship, I also got to enjoy the beautiful North Wales countryside for six months, I was able to climb the Wyddfa for the first time and enjoy the beautiful beaches – it really is an amazing part of the world.”

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Mr Ganapathi said he and his colleagues were pleased with the success of the fellowship so far and have now welcomed their second surgeon onto the programme.

He said: “During the fellowship the surgeon works closely with myself and my two colleagues, Mr Soler and Mr Azurza and had exposure to a wide range of hip and knee replacement techniques, minimally invasive hip arthroplasty, partial knee replacements and day surgery arthroplasty and of course robotic-assisted knee surgery using the ROSA system.

“Mr Gupta also initiated several research projects which will be continued by our next fellow who has now started with us. We hope the fellowship experience will help him with his future career as a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and we wish him all the success.

“We feel very proud to be able to offer this programme at the hospital, there is less than a handful of fellowships such as this across the UK so it means a lot to us that we are able to offer such a prestigious programme.”