'˜Robot was life-saver'

Paul Tosdevin was operated on by the Da Vinci robot at Queen Alexandra hospital, in Cosham, in 2014.

The operation came after he was diagnosed with bowel and liver cancer three years ago.

Mr Tosdevin, pictured right, described the machine as ‘a life-saver’ and has since backed fundraising events to help raise the £2.4m needed to secure the machine at the hospital.

He says: ‘It’s amazing. It can work for seven to nine hours at a time. It can do manoeuvres in surgery that no human could do.’

The revolutionary machine means that some surgeries can be done safely as day cases and it also allows smaller keyhole surgery, quicker recovery times, less pain and less chance of infection.

Mr Tosdevin adds: ‘The robot meant I was in hospital for eight days, whereas normally you’d be in for a lot longer to undergo and recover from surgery.

‘It means far less pain due to the way it performs surgery.’

Mr Tosdevin is one of thousands of QA patients the robot has helped.

In a bid to show how grateful patients are and also to raise money, QA has a Boats of Bounty board.

Placed on the ground floor of the hospital, the board has hundreds of plaques engraved with messages of thanks from patients and their families.

Ranging from bronze, silver and gold, people donate to the Rocky Appeal and get their message on the board. Gold boats are for donations of at least £1,000; silver are for donations of £500 to £999 and bronze is for £250 to £499.