Overview

• NHS England performed around 70,000 robot-assisted operations in 2023/24, laying the groundwork for the tenfold increase planned by 2035.
• Sir Jim Mackey and Health Secretary Wes Streeting say robotics will drive the pledge to restore shorter elective waiting times by 2029 and ease a 7.4 million-patient backlog.
• Officials forecast that nine in ten minimally invasive procedures will be robot-assisted within ten years, up from roughly one in five currently.
• Surgeons report that robotic systems deliver greater precision, reducing blood loss, halving hospital stays and speeding patient recovery.
• Experts warn that achieving this scale of rollout will require major upfront investment in equipment and upgrades to NHS trust infrastructure.