He said: “One of the reasons I am here and I wanted to lend my support is because I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and successfully got through it, and so far, touch wood, I’m still OK.
“I worked with Prostate Cancer UK on a campaign to help people get diagnosed early as, unfortunately, by the time some are diagnosed it’s too late to do anything. It’s all very well diagnosing people but if there isn’t something there to help them it can make it very difficult for them to get the treatment they need. But one of the things that has made me very optimistic is Hugo, as this new technology means you can treat more people more efficiently which is fantastic.
“Technology is absolutely wonderful and it’s speeding everything up and the future is looking great. Hugo really is great news. It’s a life-saver.”
Ken Mellows was the first patient to undergo a colorectal procedure after he was diagnosed with colon cancer.
The 79-year-old, from Gillingham, said: “After my surgery I was on the High Dependency Unit for the first night, then on a ward for a couple of days before being allowed home.
“Ten-months on and everything is still going well and that is all thanks to my surgeon, the theatre team and of course Hugo.”
Philip Bensted, 70, from Broadstairs, who underwent surgery for prostate cancer, said: “My daughter got in touch with an old school friend of hers who is a cancer research scientist for a private pharmaceutical company. It turned out she had actually had a play with a friend of Hugo. She said, and I quote, ‘after 20 exhausting minutes I managed to pick up a grape’ which tells you a lot about the degree of skill required to operate Hugo.
“The small puncture wounds healed quickly and five weeks after the operation I was back on the golf course. It is thanks to Hugo and the skill and knowledge of all the staff involved that I am now recovering.”
Aspiring medics and Year 13 students Hikmah Jolaoso from Sir Joseph Williamson Mathematical School, and Kiran Karumathy, from Rainham Mark Grammar School, as well as Year 12 student Lottie Hobbs, from Sevenoaks School, had the pleasure of helping Jools cut a ribbon to mark the official opening of the Hugo™ RAS system. All three students successfully completed the hospital’s in-house work experience programme last year, which is designed to inspire the next generation of medical students and support their UCAS application for university. It is the only programme of its kind to be offered by an acute NHS trust in Kent.
To date the Hugo™ RAS system has been used to carry out procedures on more than 140 patients at Medway.
Professor Matin Sheriff, Consultant Urological Surgeon and Lead Robotic Surgeon for Medway NHS Foundation Trust, which operates the hospital, said: “We first offered RAS to urology patients back in 2017 when we adopted the da Vinci device followed by colorectal patients in 2018. Thanks to Hugo we have been able to extend the offering to gynaecology patients which is a significant development for us and helped set new standards when it comes to women’s healthcare.
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