Sur­gery robot goes on show

Wairarapa Times-Age

23 September 2026

Wair­ar­apa health­care is poised for a major tech­no­lo­gical leap as Selina Suth­er­land Hos­pital pre­views state-of-the-art sur­gical tech­no­logy for its planned facil­ity.

The private hos­pital, which is pre­par­ing to build on Te Ore Ore Rd dir­ectly oppos­ite the regional Wair­ar­apa Hos­pital, aims to acquire a Da Vinci Xi sur­gical robot and estab­lish Mas­ter­ton as a regional centre of excel­lence for robotic sur­gery.

The demon­stra­tion in Mas­ter­ton gave clini­cians and com­munity mem­bers hands-on access to the $2.5 mil­lion Da Vinci Xi sys­tem – a tech­no­logy rep­res­ent­ing the next evol­u­tion­ary stage in sur­gery, mov­ing from open sur­gery to lap­aro­scopic pro­ced­ures and now robot­ics.

Selina Suth­er­land Hos­pital gen­eral man­ager Vicki Bulmer said the intro­duc­tion of the robot was cent­ral to the hos­pital’s broader vis­ion of work­ing in close part­ner­ship with the pub­lic health sys­tem.

“By tak­ing on elect­ive sur­gical loads, we relieve pres­sure on a very busy pub­lic sys­tem, allow­ing pub­lic ser­vices to focus on acute com­munity needs.”

Under a pro­posed pub­lic-private part­ner­ship model, pub­lic health spe­cial­ists in uro­logy, gyn­ae­co­logy and gen­eral sur­gery could use the robot at the new facil­ity, so the tech­no­logy bene­fits all res­id­ents regard­less of whether they hold private health insur­ance.

Hos­pital lead­ers also saw the ini­ti­at­ive as a decis­ive solu­tion to regional med­ical work­force short­ages. Regional centres often lost junior doc­tors and spe­cial­ists to over­seas hos­pit­als where robotic sys­tems were already the stand­ard of care.

Wair­ar­apa Hos­pital sur­geon Dr Andrew Cleary, who had used the sys­tem in the United States, explained how the tech­no­logy improved sur­gical accur­acy while sim­pli­fy­ing com­plex pro­ced­ures.

“With stand­ard lap­aro­scopic tools, you’re work­ing with straight instru­ments. But with the robot, you get your entire wrist action back and you con­trol the cam­era your­self,” Cleary said. “It allows you to get into the nooks and cran­nies you oth­er­wise couldn’t reach, enabling us to per­form advanced cases right here.”

Com­plex con­di­tions such as severe hiatal her­nias, thoracic oeso­pha­geal tumours and nerve-spar­ing pro­statec­tom­ies can be per­formed with far greater pre­ci­sion.

For pro­state can­cer patients, nerves­par­ing robotic sur­gery drastic­ally reduces post-oper­at­ive pain, shortens hos­pital stays and improves func­tional recov­ery.

Wair­ar­apa res­id­ents requir­ing com­plex lap­aro­scopic or robotic oper­a­tions must cur­rently travel to Wel­ling­ton, the Hutt Val­ley or Palmer­ston North. Bring­ing a per­man­ent robot to Mas­ter­ton will provide world-class elect­ive care loc­ally.

Cleary said estab­lish­ing Mas­ter­ton as a robotic train­ing centre would not only retain local tal­ent but also attract top spe­cial­ists. Sev­eral Wel­ling­ton sur­geons had already indic­ated interest in oper­at­ing in Mas­ter­ton if the machine was secured.

“If we step for­ward and adopt this tech­no­logy, we will retain train­ees, doc­tors, sur­geons and nurses. Mas­ter­ton can truly become a train­ing centre for the next gen­er­a­tion of sur­geons.”

Fund­ing for the equip­ment will be sought through Selina Suth­er­land’s local share­holder base, com­munity sup­port and char­it­able trusts.