State-of-the-art £750,000 robot to improve prostate cancer surgery at Southmead Hospital

The purchase by Southmead Hospital Charity comes from funds raised by Southmead Hospital Charity’s Prostate Cancer Care Appeal in 2016 to fund two urological surgical robots needed by the hospital.

A further £750,000 is hoped to be secured in the coming year to treat more men and expand robotic surgery into other cancers.

Southmead Hospital is the one of the largest urological centres in the country, treating thousands of patients with prostate cancer every year, and was one of the first centres in the UK to specialise in robotic surgery to treat the disease, one of the most common in men, with 130 more being diagnosed every day by the disease.

Elizabeth Bond, head of fundraising at Southmead Hospital Charity, said: “We are thrilled to be able to fund the purchase of a new Da Vinci robot so that the urology team can continue the amazing work they do.

“But there is still more work to do to reach our target and raise the money to buy a much needed second robot to keep up with demand for this type of surgery.

“So we will be continuing to fundraise with the help of our brilliant community of fundraisers, donors and supporters and would love to hear from anyone who would like to donate or support the Prostate Cancer Care Appeal.

“I’d also like to say a special thank you to everyone who has donated to or fundraised for the Prostate Cancer Care Appeal and made this possible – from abseils and marathons to bake sales and fancy dress up days – our fundraisers have been instrumental in reaching this goal.

“We have also benefited from some very generous donations from private supporters, companies, community groups and grant giving bodies, particularly John Lewis Cribbs Causeway, Guildhall Chambers and the rotary clubs of Bristol, Bristol Breakfast and Chipping Sodbury and Yate.”

The advanced Intuative Da Vinci robot replaces the hospital’s first robot, which was bought in 2009, helping to make robotic surgery more accurate, less invasive, causing less blood loss, and reducing the length of stay in hospital by one to three days compared to open surgical methods.

Salah Albuheissi, lead urology consultant, said: “We’re very grateful to Southmead Hospital Charity and their fundraisers and donors, and I’d like to thank everyone who has supported the Prostate Cancer Care Appeal.

“Our urology team have created a leading prostate cancer service and with the purchase of a new robot we can continue to be at the forefront of prostate cancer care and grow our expertise in treating other cancers robotically.

“At the moment the demand for robotic procedures is greater than our capacity with one robot, a second surgical robot would enable us to treat even more men from across the region as well as provide robotic surgery for other types of cancer like kidney, bladder and gynaecological.

“It means that more patients will benefit from a reduction in their length of stay in hospital and have quicker operations.

“Our current robot will now be retired from surgery but used as a training model to train the next generation of robotic surgeons here in Bristol.”

Andrea Young, North Bristol NHS Trust chief executive, said: “The new advanced Da Vinci robot ensures that our urology and surgical teams remain at the forefront of cancer care at Southmead Hospital and I am proud to see the great strides the department are making to ensure exceptional healthcare for our patients.

“To reach this milestone is a fantastic achievement by Southmead Hospital Charity and their supporters, to whom we are very grateful for their continued support.”