Robots are no better at performing surgery than humans

Highly-trained surgeons armed with a scalpel perform procedures faster than machines, at a lower cost - and do not make more mistakes. Two studies - one by Leeds University and the other by Stanford University in the US - last night independently found robots did not reduce side effects or improve the patient's health when compared to manual operations. But they both found that robotic surgery took longer and was more expensive. For the last 15 years robots have been increasingly used in the NHS, replacing the surgeon's hand with the arm of a machine. The NHS has about 60 surgical robots, often bought for about £1.5million each by hospitals' charitable trusts after local fundraising campaigns.