Kent & Canterbury Hospital is to become a centre of expertise in robotic urological surgery training under a new scheme funded by The Urology Foundation.
Five high volume robotic training centres based in hospitals in four different cities, including Canterbury, will join together enabling surgeons to share expertise. The number of NHS urologists training in robotic surgery each year will treble from six to 20, meaning an extra 2,000 men with prostate cancer could benefit from robotic technology across the UK each year.
Consultant Ben Eddy said: "Robotic surgery for prostate cancer in Canterbury has been established for over five years, now becoming one of the UK's highest volume centres. Training of future surgeons to the highest standards is an important part of the development of a service and we are proud to be a part of this national initiative to train surgeons in a more robust way. This collaboration organised by The Urology Foundation is truly unique in the area of robotic surgical training."
The five centres have been selected based on their track record in delivering high quality care to patients reflected in reported surgical outcomes, expertise of the individual surgeons in various sub-specialist areas and track record in providing training to fellows or colleagues interested in acquiring robotic skills.
