Patients in the Black Country are set to benefit from a cutting-edge robotic hybrid theatre, The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust has announced.
The £1m estate is the first of its kind in the region and boasts the capabilities of an operating theatre as well as enabling clinicians to perform routine surgical procedures, and catheter-based interventions and open surgery under a single anaesthetic.
As well as these benefits, the hybrid theatre now enables health professionals at The Dudley Group to treat patients with just one solution rather than having them return for repeat interventions. The trust also say it now has the capacity to circumvent some open procedures by using anti-vascular techniques.
The trust’s Deputy Chief of Surgery, Atiq-ur Rehman, said: “The robotic hybrid operating theatre will provide a better experience and best quality service for our patients, and a safer, more streamlined pathway for their treatment.
“It will also enable vascular specialists to carry out less invasive surgery which would traditionally have required a much bigger open operation. Thanks to the state-of-the-art facility, this will improve patients’ outcomes and reduce their length of stay in the hospital.”
The trust also highlights the fact that the theatre will allow for surgeries to be much more accurate thanks to the enhanced image capabilities. The Dudley Group expect to welcome the theatre’s first patients this month, with staff training now underway following the project’s completion.
Trust Chief Executive, Diane Wake, added: “We are very proud to be opening such a fantastic new facility here in Dudley and know that it will make such a difference to our patients of the Black Country population.
“We pride ourselves on being innovative and forward thinking; and this hybrid theatre will allow us to meet our strategic goal of delivering the high-quality vascular services every time.”
