Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the utility and safety of robotic techniques in surgical operations for patients in the UK.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have developed interventional procedures guidance on robot assisted kidney transplant and totally endoscopic robotically assisted coronary artery bypass grafting that are based on thorough assessment of safety and efficacy for routine use in clinical practice.

NHS England is responsible for setting evidence-based national service standards, including service specifications and clinical commissioning policies, and for ensuring the implementation of NICE Technology Appraisal Guidance within local systems. Robotic assisted surgery has been commissioned in line with national policies for prostate cancer and early-stage kidney cancers that are unsuitable for conventional laparoscopic surgery.

In view of the rapidly evolving nature of robotic assisted surgery, no detailed forecast of the expected future use has been developed at this time, but it is anticipated that the use of robotic techniques in surgical operations will increase over the coming years. No specific assessment has been made of the use of robotic surgery in the United Kingdom compared to Europe or the United States of America at this time.