Health
With respect to the Department’s Da Vinci Surgical Robotic Programme:
- (a) How many surgeries have taken place to date at (i) Tygerberg and (ii) Groote Schuur and (b) on average, (i) how much quicker can surgeries be performed and (ii) how quicker is the recovery time when these pieces of machinery are used;
- whether the two Da Vinci Xi systems have helped to reduce the surgical backlog; if so, what are the relevant details?
- (a) (i) Tygerberg Hospital - 157 surgeries
(ii) Groote Schuur Hospital – 103 surgeries
(b)(i) This is dependent each case individually and varies.
(ii) The inclusion of robotics in our services has resulted in a reduced length of stay in some operations from 5 to 3 days.
- The indications for the da Vinci procedures are restricted to complex cases, where advanced surgical access, imaging and instrumentation are needed. Were it not for the robotic platforms, these cases would have been done with traditional approaches, that result in large wounds, increased tissue damage and thus a much longer hospital stay (due to pain, wound complications and hernias from large cuts). The robotic approach has shortened the length of hospital stay for these cases, thus freeing up surgical, gynaecological and urological beds to be utilized for other patients that would not have been able to access hospital care due to limitations in bed numbers. The less invasive robotic approach has also increased the availability of ICU beds, as very few robotic cases need ICU (unlike in the traditional approach). The da Vinci robotic machines have thus indirectly assisted with the surgical backlog by freeing up ward and ICU beds that can then be utilized to assist other patients who are in need of investigations, endoscopy, or surgical procedures.
The annual numbers of elective operations have not yet recovered to pre-COVID levels, but the annual deficit in elective operations has decreased each year since 2020 with the additional focus and interventions that the Department has placed on surgical reveries. The deficit is currently about half of the 2020 deficit. The estimated backlog elective surgeries currently stand at 20 849. The robotic surgery innovation has brought about better outcomes and patient experiences at our institutions, which have resulted in many more additional operations being performed.
