Surgeons at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW) have carried out more than 1,000 operations using robot-assisted surgery, less than two years after the trust’s first surgical robot arrived.
The trust took delivery of its first da Vinci Xi robot at Maidstone Hospital in September 2024. According to MTW, its surgical team progressed to full theatre schedules for gynaecological cancer, general surgery and urology using the robot faster than any other hospital in the UK and Ireland has done over the past seven years.
How the robots are used
In robot-assisted surgery, the surgeon operates from a console connected to a robot that precisely mimics their hand movements. This means complex procedures can be carried out through smaller incisions, reducing damage to surrounding tissue.
A second robot arrived at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in April 2025, where surgeons use it for general surgery, colorectal, bariatric (weight management) and gynaecology procedures.
What the surgeons say
Mr Daniel Lawes, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon and Chief of Service for MTW’s Surgery Division, said: “The 3D view and super magnification give us better visualisation and more precision, meaning safer surgery and improved outcomes for patients.
“The system shows us where tiny nerves and vessels are located, so we can suture with greater accuracy and there is less risk of post-operative bleeding.”
He added that having the technology in MTW’s hospitals “also allows us to provide the very best training and development opportunities to our staff and to future surgeons.”
Sources
Illustrative AI-generated image. This is not a photograph of the surgical robots at Maidstone or Tunbridge Wells hospitals.