Patient praises 'robotic surgeon'

Susan Farr said she did not need to use any painkillers

Surgeons at a Surrey hospital are operating on patients using a £1.6m robotic arm that makes keyhole surgery less painful.

Consultant colorectal surgeon Mr Mark Gudgeon removed a cancerous section of bowel from Susan Farr at Frimley Park Hospital using the machine

The robotic device, nicknamed Robbie by staff, can be used by a doctor sitting at a computer screen.

Mrs Farr, of Wrecclesham near Farnham, Surrey, said the surgery was pain free.

'Technically demanding surgery'

Mrs Farr, who lives in Wrecclesham near Farnham, Surrey, said: "I was pain free from the start - didn't need any painkillers at all.

"I had visitors the next day and they couldn't believe how well I looked. My daughter came in the evening and she was quite astonished.

"The robot is amazing. I jokingly said when I came to, 'where's my certificate for being the first?' I think Robbie is my new best friend," she said.

The hospital trust agreed to buy the equipment, which interprets the users' movements from the controls and carries out the action on the patient, in April.

The robot can even counteract any trembling in the surgeon's hands.

The trust said the equipment means smaller incisions, less bleeding, a lower infection risk and less pain for patients.

Mr Gudgeon added: "The main advantage of the robot is the accuracy, the lack of tremor, the three-dimensional vision and magnification.

"It's not going to be applicable to all aspects of colorectal surgery, we will focus it on the more technically demanding surgery. We need to find out exactly the areas where it is going to give us the greatest benefit."