We held a ‘Gynaecology Week’ from Monday 4 to Saturday 9 March where we carried out 60 operations in just six days – including 38 major surgeries.

This was the third Gynaecology Week we’ve held, where we concentrate our resources to carry out well above the usual number of procedures than an average week, helping to reduce waits for our patients.

This time, our focus was on robotic surgeries and the team carried out 22 of these operations. Robotic surgery is there a surgeon sits at a computer console to control the robot, which uses small incisions, surgical instruments and a camera.

The benefits include more precision, less invasion surgery for patients, leading to quicker recoveries, and a greater range of movement for the surgeon, so they do not tire as easily when carrying out complex operations.

Roopa Nair, our Clinical Lead for Women’s Health, who also carried out several of the robotic surgeries, said:

It was a massive team effort to help tackle our waiting list.

“We were able to complete many complex robotic surgeries for women with cancer, endometriosis, incontinence and prolapse, while also completing other operations. I’d like to thank the entire team, including theatre staff, ward colleagues, the day surgery unit, admissions team, as well as all the doctors and nurses, for making this possible.

During the week, Claire Hogg, Director of Planned Care for North East London (pictured below with members of our team), paid a visit to find out more about robotic surgery at our Trust. She said:

It was a fascinating insight into robotic gynae surgery, as well as the impact on patient outcomes and experience, and the overall experience for the team.

The majority of the surgeries took place at our Elective Surgical Hub at King George Hospital. Among the ways in which were able to complete more operations than a usual week included carrying out surgeries during the evening and have two surgeons rather than one to maximise theatre time.