IMAGINE a state-of-the-art surgical robot that cuts the time spent in hospital by a third.
A robot that’s so good it reduces scarring for the patient and attracts some of the best brains in medicine to Redditch.
A robot that will bring benefits to the friends and family of the patient and the wider community as well.
Welcome to Rory the Robot, a £1.6million machine that could cement Redditch’s place as a world leader in prostate and bladder cancer care.
<b>And that’s why the Redditch Standard is backing the Rory the Robot campaign for 2017.</b>
The space age machine is earmarked to be installed in the Alexandra Hospital, and, thanks to the fund raising efforts of countless people, including supermarket giant Morrisons, stands just a few thousand pounds short of becoming a reality here in Redditch.
Rory the Robot – more of a giant spider than a tin man with a bolt through his head – will be able to perform surgery on bladder and prostate cancer patients which just a few years ago would have been seen as little more science fiction.
And the benefits of Rory are huge – patients spend a third less time in hospital, recover quicker and have less scarring. He’s also fast and given his reputation, means that Redditch will attract the best surgeons in the business to the Alex.
The Woodrow Drive hospital is sometimes seen, despite the fantastic efforts of the staff, as a place where services are disappearing down the road to Worcester.
In fact it is home to a £30million cancer treatment centre whose urology department has been hailed as the best not just in the Great Britain – but the world.
Last Friday a group of interested parties, including doctors, fund raisers, Karen Lumley MP and patients gathered at the Alex to get a first glimpse of what Rory is like.
They were told by consultant urologist Adel Makar: “We have a fantastic cancer centre in Redditch delivering state-of-the-art care even though at the moment we do not have the robot.
“There is no place in the world better than Redditch and we need to build on that and hopefully we will get there with your support.”
Counting money pledged, the appeal is just £10,000 short of the £300,000 they need to get Rory installed at the Alex and the hope is the robot could be in situ by February and, after staff training, in operation by April, 2017.
Consultant urologist Zaheer Shah added: “Instead of getting ready to go home, a patient operated on with this machine would already be out doing his Christmas shopping. It’s the difference between two days in hospital instead of four to six.”
To see a video of the impact of prostate cancer, tap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP_c7uEGXoo
