Nottingham hospital patient is UK's first to have new robotic knee surgery
A woman who was unable to go out shopping or dog walking on her own following surgery has undergone a pioneering robotic knee replacement at a Nottingham hospital. The Spire Nottingham Hospital, in Tollerton, is currently the only site offering robotic knee replacements in the Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire area.
The technology, known as the VELYS robot, is designed for digitally precise knee replacements and it has been used in Nottingham for the first time. Lisa, 49, had back surgery in 2023 but started to feel a crunching in her knee, affecting her balance and her ability to walk.
Lisa said she was unable to do simple tasks like the shopping due to the agonising pain at the side of her knee, saying: "I completely lost my confidence with being out and about on my own." Dr Benjamin Bloch, an orthopaedic surgeon at Spire Nottingham Hospital, proposed Lisa to be the first patient in the country to undergo a knee replacement surgery with a VELYS robotic device.
The hospital says it invested £1 million to become a 'centre of excellence' for orthopaedics, including on the VELYS technology. Lisa underwent a successful operation in May and speaking after her positive three-month review, she said: "The scar is much neater than what I thought it would be and I never thought I would have been able to start a new job in such a short period of time. I feel very lucky having had this treatment and how successful it has been."
Natasha Young, the hospital director at Spire Nottingham Hospital said: "Our recent investment in the latest technology results in us maintaining our state-of the-art hospital and high levels of patient safety. It has been such a positive development for our hospital to introduce the VELYs and see patients recovering from this procedure so well."