The Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow has become the first hospital in the world to have a surgical robot dedicated exclusively to helping children, according to the BBC. The hospital will use the Versius Plus robot for paediatric surgery after receiving a £1.5m donation from a charitable trust.
The robot can provide greater access during keyhole surgery and will help with operations for complex cancer, urology, abdominal, thoracic and gastrointestinal conditions. Doctors at the hospital said it can provide enhanced precision while reducing pain, minimising scarring and getting patients back to their everyday lives quicker.
The Coldstones Charitable Trust pledged more than £1.5m to Hi Scotland, the innovation arm of the Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity, to fund the paediatric robotic surgery programme. An evaluation phase saw surgeons perform more than 30 procedures with the robot. The first case of a child in the UK undergoing surgery with Versius occurred in 2024, after several surgeries with adults.
Michael Jacovides, a consultant paediatric surgeon and clinical lead for the programme, said robotic assisted surgery will increasingly be part of caring for children in the future and that he was excited it was already available for the children of Glasgow. He said the service was being developed to cover more conditions and offer it to more children and babies across Scotland. Kirsten Watson, chief executive of the charity, said the donation was "enabling something genuinely pioneering for children's healthcare."