Robotic surgery to improve joint care for Hertfordshire patients

Patients across West Hertfordshire are to benefit from a robotic surgery programme at St Albans City Hospital which will speed up recovery times and get people home faster after joint operations.

West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which manages St Albans City Hospital, is offering robotic-assisted joint replacement for patients in Hertfordshire and West Essex. The programme at the hospital is already underway, with the first case taking place in July 2024.

Surgeons can position knee or hip implants with greater accuracy with the help of the Smith & Nephew Cori robot, which builds a 3D model of the patient’s anatomy in real time.

Ravi Popat, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who is leading the robotics programme at St Albans, said: “Operating with robots can provide a much better outcome for patients including a speedier recovery and ultimately a shorter hospital stay.

“This is much better for the patient and helps to free up beds.

“We’re proud to be providing top tier care for patients who would normally need to travel to a London hospital to benefit from this kind of specialist technology.”

The orthopaedic surgical team hope the robot’s workload will expand to around 200 joint replacements a year at St Albans, a third of the total.

The team also aim to use the robot in same day joint replacement operations, allowing patients to recover at home instead of spending up to three days in hospital.

This is possible through an enhanced recovery programme which encourages patients to stay as active as possible immediately before and after an operation.

In some cases, patient recovery can be monitored through the trust’s ‘virtual hospital’, which allows patients to be cared for from at home using specialist tech and the support of experts, who can track key health metrics remotely or in person.

Ben Spiegelberg, hip and knee lead consultant in the orthopaedic team at St Albans, said: “It’s very exciting for our theatre and surgical teams who have the chance to develop cutting-edge theatre skills and widen their career opportunities.”

The trust has already established itself as a leader in adopting robotic surgery and providing international training on robotic joint replacements.

Earlier this year, West Herts invested in two additional robotic surgery machines. In April 2024, the trust purchased the US-build da Vinci Xi from Intuitive for £2.5 million and the Procept BioRobotic, which is used to treat an enlarged prostate, for around £365,000.

These are in addition to two CMR Surgical Versius robots the trust bought for a combined £2.84 million in 2022, taking its total spend on robotics at the time to £5.7 million, a figure which has since increased with the purchase of the Smith & Nephew Cori robot.