One hundred throats, one robot, incisions as small as 5 millimetres

At Royal Derby Hospital, the head and neck theatre team has just completed its 100th robotic operation — a trans-oral procedure, through the mouth, for a patient with tongue-base cancer, led by consultants David Laugharne and Sean Mortimore. The surgeons guide the robot from a console beside the patient, steering a camera and miniature instruments through incisions that can be as small as 5 millimetres. For patients, that smallness is the point: less pain, fewer complications and a quicker recovery than traditional approaches. 'We are so proud that we are one of less than a dozen NHS trusts in the country performing this type of surgery,' said Mortimore. The robot was funded by the trust together with Derby and Burton Hospitals Charity. Patient 100 is recovering — and the team, Laugharne says, is already looking forward to the next hundred.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: institutional program