Bowel cancer mortality rates in a Black Country borough are among the highest - prompting call for robotic ops to reduce deaths
Figures show bowel cancer mortality rates in Walsall are among the highest in the region prompting calls for robotic technology to be used to improve outcomes for patients.
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Walsall and Bloxwich MP Valerie Vaz MP said over a two-year period the mortality rate for cases at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, which manages Walsall Manor Hospital, was 38.1 per cent in the period up to 2023, according to a National Bowel Cancer Audit report. The figure was 21 per cent higher than at Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital for the same period.
Earlier this year Walsall Manor Hospital became the first district general hospital in England to offer robot-arm-assisted surgery for hip and knee replacement patients. The MP wants the method to be extended to bowel cancer treatment.
Miss Vaz said: “I am concerned that Walsall Manor does not have a robotic surgery facility for bowel cancer so I raised this in a debate on December 19.
“The Manor is the only hospital in the Black Country that does not have this resource.”
