Versius adopted by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust to improve access to robotic surgery in London

~ Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust is the first hospital in London to use the next-generation robot, enabling patients awaiting cancer treatment greater access to minimal access surgery in the capital

~ This is the latest in a string of new NHS sites to acquire Versius, as the next-generation robot from Cambridge continues to demonstrate merit to leading health systems across the world

~ Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust is the first hospital in London to use the next-generation robot, enabling patients awaiting cancer treatment greater access to minimal access surgery in the capital

~ This is the latest in a string of new NHS sites to acquire Versius, as the next-generation robot from Cambridge continues to demonstrate merit to leading health systems across the world

CMR Surgical (CMR) – a global surgical robotics business – today announced Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust as the latest NHS Trust, and first site in London, to adopt the Versius robot. The renowned teaching hospital has adopted the versatile technology in order to increase patient access to minimal access (or keyhole) surgery across both of its London sites.

Minimal access surgery is associated with a range of significant patient benefits including reduced recovery time, reduced scarring and reduced pain. Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust hope that by bolstering its robotic programme with the new Versius robot, many more patients awaiting surgery in London will be able to receive this high quality care, and, crucially, the surgeons themselves will also benefit from it.

Prokar Dasgupta, Honorary Consultant Urological Surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas, and Professor of Surgery at King’s College London and King’s Health Partners, said: “While minimal access surgery is well-established as the peak of patient care, when performed manually, without the aid of robotics, it can be extremely demanding for surgeons – both physically and mentally. Versius could help us to improve surgeon wellbeing at this challenging time because it has an ergonomic design, allowing surgeons to operate in much more comfortable, neutral positions. This has the potential to enable surgeons to operate for longer, while experiencing less pain and discomfort.”

“I have followed the progress of CMR for several years and I’m delighted to see Versius now in operation within the NHS. I am pleased to say that I have now completed a range of extremely successful clinical cases with the system.”

The multi-specialty programme has begun in the established urology department, and the robot is already helping surgeons to perform complex cases, including the first robotic prostatectomy in the UK with Versius. In the future, patients having colorectal and general surgeries at the Trust will also be able to benefit from robotic surgery with Versius.

Ben Challacombe, Consultant Urological Surgeon, Guy’s and St Thomas’, said: “One of the key reasons we wanted to bring in Versius to the Trust was the small-scale and modular design which means that the individual robotic arms can be moved between hospital sites and departments. This means that a number of different procedures can be performed efficiently across our busy operating theatres and more patients will have access to innovative robotic technology.”

Versius is now an established surgical tool within the NHS, and is also being used by health systems across Europe, Australia, India and the Middle East. This announcement follows the news that CMR Surgical will open a new large-scale manufacturing facility in Cambridgeshire to enable upscaled manufacturing processes to meet the increasing global demand for Versius.

Mark Slack, Chief Medical Officer at CMR Surgical, said: “We are delighted that Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and their team of world-class surgeons have chosen to expand their surgical robotics programme with Versius. In designing Versius our goal was to provide a versatile, portable, and cost-effective surgical robotic system that could transform the field of minimal access surgery – allowing more patients to benefit than currently do. The introduction of Versius at the Trust does just that, and crucially at a time when patients, surgeons and hospitals are facing significant health and economic challenges.”

Versius adopted by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

Versius adopted by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

Versius adopted by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

ENDS

About Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

Guy’s and St Thomas’ provides 2.9 million patient contacts in acute and specialist hospital services and community services every year. The Trust includes Guy’s Hospital, St Thomas’ Hospital, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospital, Harefield Hospital, and adult and children’s community services in Lambeth and Southwark.

About King’s Health Partners

King’s Health Partners is an Academic Health Sciences Centre, bringing together a world-leading university and three NHS Foundation Trusts in London. Our partners are King’s College London, and Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts.

The Versius® Surgical Robotic System

Versius® resets expectations of robotic surgery. Versius fits into virtually any operating room set-up and integrates seamlessly into existing workflows, increasing the likelihood of robotic minimal access surgery (MAS). The small, portable and modular design of Versius allows the surgeon to only use the number of arms needed for a given procedure.

Biomimicking the human arm, Versius gives surgeons the choice of optimised port placement alongside the dexterity and accuracy of small fully-wristed instruments. With 3D HD vision, easy-to adopt instrument control and a choice of ergonomic working positions, the open surgeon console has the potential to reduce stress and fatigue and allows for clear communication with the surgical team. By thinking laparoscopically and operating robotically with Versius, patients, surgeons and healthcare professionals can all benefit from the value that robotic MAS brings.

But it’s more than just a robot. Versius captures meaningful data with its wider digital ecosystem to support a surgeon’s continuous learning. Through the Versius Connect app, Versius Trainer and CMR clinical registry, Versius unleashes a wealth of insights to ultimately improve surgical care.

About CMR Surgical Limited

CMR Surgical (CMR) is a global medical devices company dedicated to transforming surgery with Versius®, a next-generation surgical robot.

Headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom, CMR is committed to working with surgeons, surgical teams and hospital partners, to provide an optimal tool to make robotic minimal access surgery universally accessible and affordable. With Versius, we are on a mission to redefine the surgical robotics market with practical, innovative technology and data that can improve surgical care.

Founded in 2014, CMR Surgical is private limited company backed by an international shareholder base.

References

i McWilliams, Andrew. (2009, March). The Market for Minimally Invasive Medical Devices. BCC Research, p.14

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