New Cross Hospital leads the way with pioneering robotic heart surgery (UK)

Pioneering robotic heart surgery which reduces recovery time from months to weeks has been performed for the first time in the UK at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital. Surgeons carried out the open heart operation - which involves directing four robot arms from a separate console - in the hospital's renowned Heart and Lung Centre. The procedure is more common in America, where the Da Vinci robotic technology was developed, but only currently available at two other hospitals in Europe, in Finland and Sweden. A tiny camera on the end of an arm - which can rotate up to 540 degrees - gives surgeons unrivalled views of the heart, while surgical metal 'fingers' do the crucial work required.