Hospital livestreams operations to educate surgeons

The operations were completed as part of a two-day robotic surgical symposium

A hospital has livestreamed cancer operations to support training for surgeons.

The University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) said two robotic colorectal operations were completed at Northampton General Hospital on 9 and 10 October, with the consent of the patients involved.

The operations were completed as part of a two-day robotic surgical symposium where medical professionals from the UK and Portugal participated in a range of lectures and discussions.

Jamil Ahmed, UHN's deputy director of medical education, who organised the event, said: "This is a very powerful way of giving doctors an experience and ability to learn and watch robotic surgery in real time."

UHN – which runs both Kettering and Northampton general hospitals – arranged the event as a way of teaching its own medical teams complex robotic surgery while also enabling surgeons from other areas to learn state-of-the-art surgical procedures.

Mr Ahmed said: "Sharing the precise way a procedure is undertaken in this way has many benefits, as it exposes surgeons to the way others perform these procedures and encourages discussion and improvements in the field.

"Both procedures went well for the patients, and we received a lot of positive feedback from the symposium attendees on the benefits of the live-streaming method.

"We very much hope to build on the success of this kind of training to deliver the very best quality of teaching and medical education at UHN."

David said he was happy his surgery had contributed to the surgical symposium

Although the livestreamed operations were carried out anonymously, one of the patients, David McLoughlin, was happy to reveal his identity and describe his support for the surgical symposium.

Mr McLoughlin, 62, from Braunston, near Daventry, had his procedure at Northampton General Hospital on Thursday and was able to return home on Sunday.

He said: "About six weeks ago, I went to my GP after stomach pains and some other tests, and then I went to the hospital for a colonoscopy, which found I had cancer.

"My consultant, Mr Ahmed, explained about the live-stream and symposium, and I was happy to volunteer to take part. I was impressed and reassured that Mr Ahmed was happy to do my operation, watched by so many other consultants as it happened.

"I also thought if I can contribute to doctors learning in this ground-breaking way, it has to be helpful to the 60 or more consultants attending to see the robotic technique being done live."