Speakers
Dinesh Nathwani
Akash Sharma
Reshid Berber
Nick Ohly
Specialist Society
Session Title: When Innovation Meets Administration: The Challenges of Integrating Robot Systems into the NHS
Session Description: Join us for the Computer Aided Orthopaedic Surgery Session, featuring experts in the field. Robot-assisted surgery is increasingly setting new standards for precision and personalization in orthopaedic treatment. But the integration of such sophisticated systems within NHS settings remains a significant challenge to date. Exorbitant capital costs, Byzantine procurement processes, workforce readiness, and uncertainty regarding long-term value are all still hindering adoption — not through any lack of clinical promise, but due to administrative and structural barriers. This CAOS UK Revalidation Session will tackle these contradictions head-on: between leading-edge innovation and routine hospital life.
The conference opens with an overview of the latest NICE Health Tech guidleines and implementation of Robotics into the NHS as standard of care followed by panel discussions from surgeons who have themselves experienced the process of introducing robotic-assisted surgery in their own NHS departments. Each will reflect over the implementation process — from optimism at the outset to organizational resistance — and on the practical implications in terms of surgical workflow, team adaptation, and clinical provision. Their experience gives us useful insight into both the promise and the resistance of the roll-out of robotic technologies into real-world orthopaedic practice.
A follow-up panel discussion will look at the broad implications for hospital networks, surgical education, clinical governance, and budgeting. Key topics will be how to measure the return on investment, what credentialing and training processes are required for safe expansion, and how robotic systems can be incorporated into hospital practice without disrupting existing care pathways. Time will be allowed for questions, issues, and exchange of views from public and private practitioners.
The revalidation session will conclude with a look to the future discussion: 'Beyond the Hardware — and Its Cost: What's Next for CAOS in the NHS?' This final presentation will broaden the scope from robot adoption to the future of computer-aided surgery more generally — examining the role of artificial intelligence, data-driven decision support, augmented technologies, and the future role of the surgeon in an ever-more digital operating theatre.
It will ask not only what we are adopting, but what we are building toward.
This session is aimed at educating and provoking by bringing together surgeons, trainees, hospital managers, and industry representatives for an open, evidence-led debate on the realities and potential of surgical innovation within the NHS. If you're already using robotic technology or looking to start down the path, this is a timely chance to consider what's going well, what's not, and what comes next.
Agenda:
14:45 – 14:50 Welcome & Introduction - Why this session? Why now? Dinesh Nathwani and Akash Sharma
14:50 – 15:00 Overview of latest Nice Guidelines on Robotics in the NHS Dinesh Nathwani
15:00 – 15:10 'NHS in Reality' - Experience with gaining institutional NHS Approval Andy Phillipson
15:10 – 15:20 Should robotics only be used in specialist centres-The Scottish Experience Nick Ohly
15:20 – 15:30 Do Robots really slow us down?' Efficiency demands vs new technology in the NHS Reshid Berber
15:30 – 15:50 Panel Discussion & Audience Q&A
Moderators: Akash Sharma and Dinesh Nathwani
A candid dialogue around shared barriers—procurement, training, ROI, surgical acceptance and patient outcomes.
15:50 – 16:05 Beyond the Hardware — and Its Cost: What’s Next for CAOS/Robotics in the NHS? Akash Sharma
16:05 – 16:15 Closing Reflections and Take Home Points
Mr Dinesh Nathwani is the current President of CAOS UK. He is a Consultant and Hon Senior Clinical Lecturer at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Robotics Lead at Cleveland Clinic London. He has a keen clinical and research interest in technology assisted knee surgery and has used Navigation and Robotics for all his partial and Total knee replacements since being appointed as a substantive Knee Consultant at Imperial College Healthcare in 2004. This was following a fellowship in Knee Navigation techniques in Perth, Western Australia. He is involved in international trials for novel cartilage resurfacing implants, customised and robotically assisted knee replacements. He is a programme committee member of Computer assisted Orthopaedic Surgery (CAOS) International. He is an Orthopaedic research advisor for the Hamlyn Centre of Robotics at Imperial College and faculty member on several national and international knee reconstruction course teaching surgeons of all grades in Robotic Knee Surgery. He is a reviewer for several Orthopaedic Journals including British Bone & Joint Journal, American Journal of Sports Medicine, The Knee, and Injury.
Mr Reshid Berber works as a Consultant Orthopaedic Hip and Knee Surgeon at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, specialising in lower limb arthroplasty, complex revision surgery and knee replacement in younger patients. His practice includes primary and revision hip and knee replacement, partial knee replacement and robotic-assisted knee surgery. He trained at University College London and completed specialist orthopaedic training across London and the East Midlands, alongside PhD research at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. Mr Berber is actively involved in the East Midlands Specialist Orthopaedic Network and contributes to research, teaching and specialist fellowship training in hip and knee arthroplasty.
Nick completed postgraduate training in Glasgow and Edinburgh, followed by a hip and knee fellowship at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He was appointed as a consultant at the Golden Jubilee in 2014. He runs a specialised elective-only practice focused exclusively on hip and knee arthroplasty, with sub-specialist interests in robotic and computer-assisted surgery, and complex and revision knee arthroplasty.
Andrew is a consultant orthopaedic surgeon with a special interest in hip and knee surgery. He trained in Liverpool, and took up my consultant post in 1996, initially at a district general hospital but later moved to Liverpool University Hospitals, which has an orthopaedic department consisting of 55 consultants. My fellowship training was with Prof Mike Wroblewski at Wrightington. Mr Phillipson's unit is the regional hub for revision surgery. Whilst he does approximately 60 hip replacements per year, his main focus is on knee surgery. His practice now consists of soft tissue ligament reconstruction knee surgery, osteotomy around the knee using patient specific instrumentation as well as knee arthroplasty. Andrew introduced the Velys robot assistance system into his hospital in January 2025, and currently uses it for the majority of my primary total and unicompartmental knee replacements. When not working, Andrew enjoys cycling, climbing and skydiving.