Uptake and accessibility of surgical robotics in England

Kyle Lam; Jonathan Clarke; Sanjay Purkayastha; James M Kinross

doi:10.1002/rcs.2174

Uptake and accessibility of surgical robotics in England

Int J Med Robot. 2021 Feb;17(1):1-7. doi: 10.1002/rcs.2174. Epub 2020 Oct 7.

Authors

Kyle Lam¹, Jonathan Clarke², Sanjay Purkayastha¹, James M Kinross¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK.
² Centre for Mathematics of Precision Healthcare, Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, London, UK.

PMID: 32979293
DOI: 10.1002/rcs.2174

Abstract

Background: The distribution, utilisation and accessibility of surgical robotics in England is unknown.

Methods: A nationwide Freedom of Information (FOI) request was sent to all acute National Health Service (NHS) trusts. Accessibility was assessed for 32 843 Lower Super Output Areas in England.

Results: All 149 acute NHS trusts responded to the FOI request. Sixty-one robots are distributed between 48 trusts. The number of robots and robotic procedures has increased annually. Urological procedures comprise 84.2% of robotic procedures. Procedure volume varies between robotic centres ranging from 1 to 683 in 2018. Over 2.4 million people have a travel time of over 1 hour to their nearest robotic centre.

Discussion: National accessibility to robotic services and case volumes are variable and does not represent good value for the NHS. A national robotic surgery registry could improve the quality of robotic surgery and is needed to dynamically assess national provision of this technology.

Keywords: accessibility; distribution; surgical robotics; utility.

MeSH terms

England
Humans
Robotic Surgical Procedures*
Robotics*
State Medicine

Grants and funding

NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre