A MULTI-MILLION euro robotic-assisted surgery programme has been launched in St John’s Hospital with hopes to improve speedy access to care and shorten recovery time for patients.
The programme focuses on general surgery and colorectal patients, with plans to expand to gynaecology and urology.
St John’s is also the first hospital in Ireland to use the CMR Surgical’s Versius system, which enhances a surgeon’s ability to mimic a human arm. Its fully wristed instruments provide surgeons and surgical teams the freedom to perform complex procedures.
It is the first Model 2 hospital in the country to launch such a programme, made possible through a €2.5million donation from the 2022 JP McManus Pro-Am.
Barry Kelly from Miltown Malbay was the first of 12 patients to undergo the procedure in January this year where a robotic removal of an inguinal hernia repair was carried out by consultant colorectal and general surgeon Prof Christina Fleming.
For Mr Kelly, who leads a very active life both in managing deliveries at Aldi in Ennistymon and as a well-known Gaelic football referee, shorter recovery time was a key consideration.
“When I first met Christina, she explained to me the various options we had for surgery and ran me through the risks and complications. She recommended the robot as possibly the best way forward and I said: ‘We might as well have a go’. But once she said I would be the first one done in St John’s, I said ‘we’ll definitely have a go so’. The Clare lads like to get in first,” Barry joked.
“This is the world we are living in now with robotics and technology. It’s the way forward. The main benefit for me was I was out quicker. I was actually home on the same day. That’s how good it is. Another big plus for me was that it meant a bed was freed up for someone else.
“When you think of hospitals, you think of overcrowding and elderly people who are waiting for a bed. But I was on my way home at 6pm and I wasn’t taking up a bed when there are plenty who need it more than me.”
St John’s is now the first Model 2 hospital in Ireland offering robotic-assisted procedures to public patients.
Prof J Calvin Coffey, Foundation Chair of Surgery at the University of Limerick School of Medicine and general and colorectal surgeon, pioneered the delivery of robotic-assisted surgery for patients in the Mid West since 2016.
“Until now, robotic surgery has largely been reserved for long, complex procedures in major university hospitals. However, the majority of operations are shorter and less complex. The introduction of Versius changes that. It brings the benefits of robotic precision — smaller incisions, faster recovery, earlier discharge — to a much broader group of patients. In practical terms, it means more people can return to their families and normal lives sooner,” he said.