Prince Charles opens new centre at St. Mary’s
The new centre for is for innovative surgery
A new centre for innovative surgery has been opened by Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, at St. Mary’s Hospital. The new centre, created and run by Imperial College London, has been set up to develop new surgical techniques – specifically ones which can make surgery quicker and easier.
The Surgical Innovation Centre, as it is called, is directed by Professor the Lord Darzi, who said “The NHS is under considerable pressure in meeting the challenge of shifting patient demographics, the burden of lifestyle disease and financial constraints. Innovation through better technologies, processes and design can help address the challenges facing health care delivery globally.”
The centre features two state-of-the-art surgical theatres and is also the country’s leading centre for bariatric surgery (carrying out operations such as gastric bypass procedures).
Developments seen by the heir to the throne include surgery through a person’s belly button, which prevents scarring, and ‘cyclops’, which is an expanding ring which can be inflated inside the body to remove growths.
A number of techniques for medical teaching have also been created at the centre, including a full-scale touch-screen skeleton model.
As part of the same event, the Prince of Wales also visited the Health Innovation Exchange (HELIX) pop-up studio, a collaboration with the Royal College of Art, which utilises design techniques to treat diseases and prevent common healthcare issues.
At the HELIX studio, an app for analysing children’s breathing patterns to detect signs of asthma was also demonstrated to the Prince.
Prince Charles told reporters, “I was fascinated going around, trying to understand how you managed to create all these innovative inventions. My great great great grandfather Prince Albert would have been very proud.”
In the past year, nearly 2,000 patients have been treated at the centre as part of usual NHS procedures. The centre can also provide same-day consultation, diagnosis, and treatment.
