Healthcare and robotics: from the operating theatre to the hospital corridor

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Finer Healthcare Newsletter · October 2026

Robots are becoming a familiar part of UK healthcare, both in the operating theatre and behind the scenes on the wards.

Robot-assisted surgery

In April 2025 NICE, which assesses health technology for the NHS, gave conditional approval to eleven robotic surgery systems for three years while more evidence is gathered: five for soft tissue operations such as hernia repair, gallbladder removal and tumour removal, and six for knee and hip replacements. Patients in the appraisal tended to recover faster, leave hospital sooner and have less pain and scarring than after traditional surgery. (doctors.net.uk, April 2025)

NHS England has since set out its first national plan for robotic surgery. Around 70,000 robot-assisted operations were carried out in 2023/24; the aim is 500,000 a year by 2035, with robotic techniques used in around nine in ten keyhole operations, up from about one in five today. The plan is part of the drive to bring down waiting lists. (Health Tech World, June 2025)

Robots on the wards

Away from theatre, robots are taking on the routine jobs that pull nurses away from patients. Self-driving trolleys move supplies, medicines and equipment around hospitals such as the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital near Birmingham, and ultraviolet disinfection robots can clean a room between patients far faster than by hand. The National Robotarium argues the aim is not to replace staff but to give them back time for care. (Building Better Healthcare, February 2025)

What it means for theatre teams

More operations each day means more theatre sessions, more turnarounds and more demand for fluid-resistant masks, gloves and surface wipes. Robotic systems change how surgery is done, but the sterile field around every patient still depends on the people in the room and the protective equipment they wear.

Finer Healthcare supplies Type IIR surgical masks, nitrile gloves in all sizes, sanitiser and alcohol wipes to hospitals, clinics and care providers. For trade accounts, email info@finerhealthcare.com.