Some organizations within the National Health Service (NHS) have recently adopted state-of-the-art surgical robots, while others are exploring innovative solutions such as androids for drug delivery. Surgical experts point out that to prepare for the future, the healthcare sector needs to fully embrace robotics and artificial intelligence technology.
The call from British surgeons is that the National Health Service (NHS) must embrace robotics and artificial intelligence technology to overcome the current crisis and prepare for future challenges. This year, waiting lists for routine treatments and complex surgeries have reached unprecedented levels, amid the difficulties generated by the pandemic within the health service, writes Sky News.
This situation has been exacerbated by numerous strikes by consultants, nurses and other staff, including the first major strike by senior doctors in decades. Professor Naeem Soomro, a member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons, pointed out in an interview that the huge demand for medical services could only be addressed through technology, especially as the NHS faces a shortage of qualified staff.
“We can’t just generate more people. The biggest issue we face now is access to care, and robotics, data and artificial intelligence will help the NHS meet these challenges,” he said.
According to the source, last year Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, recognized for the UK’s most extensive robotic surgery programme, successfully completed a number of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy procedures in a single day, equivalent to the amount of interventions in one week.
Professor Soomro, who used the same robotic systems known as Da Vinci at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, pointed out that the adoption of this technology had a significant impact on optimizing the use of medical beds.
“One of the big challenges we have is bed space – if we don’t have it, it means patients just don’t have access to surgeries and hospitals,” he said.
“Robotics allows us to do three surgeries a day instead of one, and some patients go home the same day. We do 100% of our kidney, prostate and bladder cancer surgeries robotically, and there are opportunities to expand into other specialties and massively improve productivity.”
Da Vinci robots, which are used in a growing number of NHS trusts, act as an extension of the surgeon’s hands and fingers, enabling complex procedures to be carried out.
Other organizations are exploring innovative variants of robotic technologies that are not limited to the operating room. For example, Milton Keynes University Hospital adopted penguin-shaped androids to act as transporters within the hospital. These androids assist in moving documents and medicines throughout the hospital territory, thus helping to free up the time of the medical staff.
Now called Milton, they are the work of British artificial intelligence firm Academy of Robots, which previously made a self-driving vehicle used to transport medicine from pharmacies to care centers during the pandemic.
Milton carries the packed items with it and uses technology similar to self-driving cars to navigate safely and avoid obstacles or people. In the event of a crash, staff can take control using an included game remote.
Chief executive William Sachiti, who unveiled the Milton robot at the Goodwood Festival of Speed’s Future Lab last month, told Sky News that “some NHS staff take between 10,000 and 15,000 steps a day just to get to and from the salons .”
According to the director, if it is possible to acquire a robot capable of performing this activity continuously, without fatigue and working non-stop, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, human resources can be redirected to more essential tasks .
NHS staff are wasting time due to poor technology
The observation that inadequate technology is causing time loss among NHS staff comes after a study found that surgeons in the UK waste an average of four hours a week due to inefficient technology.
Research by medical technology firm Medtronic revealed that 79% of surgeons believe that healthcare would be easier if their equipment were improved.
Professor Sanjay Purkayastha, consultant surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare Trust, told Sky News there was a “crucial” need within the NHS to adopt modern technology, including a “fully digital health record system”.
Dr. Purkayastha also expressed appreciation for the potential of what are known as “virtual twins,” i.e., three-dimensional models of patients, which effectively assist doctors in planning surgeries in advance, and the role of artificial intelligence in automating administrative tasks.
A pilot study in Surrey found that artificial intelligence can perform classification and interpretation of X-rays, CT scans and ultrasounds, freeing up doctors’ time to focus on patients.
The tool developed by Qure AI was tested at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust and was able to differentiate between normal and abnormal chest scans with an accuracy rate of 99.7%.
Darren Stephens, the company’s corporate vice-president, said the NHS needed to embrace AI because it could not recruit radiographers, radiologists and doctors “at the level we need to meet demand”.
New technologies ‘an essential part’ of government’s NHS plan
A UK government spokesman said including access to new technologies, which have the ability to improve staff time management, is a “core component” of its long-term NHS workforce strategy .
“The use of artificial intelligence will improve patient care and enable faster diagnosis of conditions such as cancer, which could save lives,” they said.
The official highlighted the importance of fully exploiting this revolutionary technology. In the same context, it revealed that the Government of England will allocate an additional £21 million to support the implementation of artificial intelligence imaging tools, including Qure, across the entire National Health Service (NHS).
2023-08-08 08:42:47
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