Geelong to lose surgical robot

Blow for public patients

A STATE-OF-THE-ART surgical robot used to perform prostate surgeries in the public health system will be moved on when Geelong Private Hospital closes its doors next week.

The hospital’s $4 million da Vinci robot — credited with reducing post-operative pain, minimising the risk of infection and fast tracking recovery times for urology patients — has been accessed by Geelong’s public patients since early 2017 through a partnership with Barwon Health.

Barwon Health this week revealed the robot would not be available to public patients after the private hospital’s June closure.

“Barwon Health will have access to the da Vinci surgical robot until the closure of Geelong Private on June 19,” Barwon Health spokeswoman Kate Bibby said.

“(Hospital operator) Healthscope will relocate the robot to another of its sites.

“All patients with a preexisting theatre date for robotic surgery will go ahead before June 19.

“If a prostatectomy is required after that date, it will be performed by another method.”

The loss of the specialist surgical robot will now see many of Geelong’s public health system patients return to the more complicated open surgery for prostatectomies.

When welcoming the new partnership in March last year, University Hospital Geelong director of urological surgery Richard Grills spruiked the improved accuracy that would come with the robot.

“This device enables a significantly greater degree of surgical precision than the human hand,” Mr Grills said at the time.

“It’s a much less complicated experience for the patient compared with a traditional open urological surgery. It allows patients to return to work after two or three weeks instead of six weeks, and discharge from hospital within two days.

“Post-operative pain is significantly less and there is less risk of infection and blood transfusion.”

Ms Bibby said no scheduled surgeries using the da Vinci surgical robot had been cancelled since the announcement of the private hospital’s closure.

Healthscope was contacted for details around the movement of the surgical robot yesterday, but did not respond before deadline.