SCALPEL surgery will soon be a thing of the past for most patients thanks to new technology, a top surgeon says.
Dr Atul Gupta, chief medical officer at Philips, said robots and minimally invasive tools will be the new normal.
Brutal scalpel surgery will be reduced as more procedures can be done robotically (stock image) Credit: Getty
Dr Atul Gupta is a radiologist and chief medical officer of Philips Credit: PHILIPS
He said they are already replacing the “brutal” old ways of cutting people open.
Even keyhole surgery is being replaced with “pinhole” as incisions get even smaller.
NHS use of doubled between 2022 and 2024 from 35,000 to 70,000 procedures in England.
Machines use tiny implements and cameras inserted into the body through small cuts in the skin.
Doctors can also use spaghetti-like catheters to remove blood clots and even do heart or .
Dr Gupta told The Sun: “Surgery isn’t disappearing but being cut open is.
“If you look back on surgery it used to be very simple and quite frankly brutal.
“A modern operating theatre kind of looks like a spaceship with screens for 3D imaging, human GPS systems and digital guidance all around you.
“We have miniature tools not much larger than a strand of spaghetti that your doctors can and veins to your heart or brain or to a tumour.
“It’s far less invasive for patients.”
Humans have attempted surgeries such as amputations for thousands of years but did not properly discover anaesthetic and painkillers until Victorian times.
Now it is being improved by making smaller cuts so patients bleed less and recover faster with fewer side effects, so they can go home sooner.
This can also speed up procedures and help medics get through more quickly.
The carries out around eight million operations and procedures per year but more than six million people are on waiting lists.
Most surgeries are done on soft tissues and organs such as the gut, bladder and heart, and can increasingly be done with technology.
Health Secretary placed new tech and artificial intelligence as key to his plans to improve the NHS.
Labour’s called it a “technological laggard” and said: “Science and technology will be key to reinvention.”
Tim Mitchell, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: “Robotic-assisted surgery is transforming surgical care.
“We need better planning and funding from government, so access doesn’t depend on a patient’s postcode or their local hospital’s charitable fundraising.”
Image-guided therapy is Dr Gupta’s expertise and uses real-time scans and video to guide medics through procedures.
He added: “This won’t replace all surgery because you can’t transplant a liver or fix complex broken bones without cutting somebody open.
“Progress went slowly with surgical procedures over the course of 500 years but now it’s exponentially going up, with developments every few months thanks to .
“This is not science fiction, it’s already happening.”
TIMELINE OF THE NHS WAITING LIST
THE NHS waiting list in England has become a political flashpoint as it has ballooned in recent years, more than doubling in a decade.
The statistics for England count the number of procedures, such as operations and non-surgical treatments, that are due to patients.
The procedures are known as elective treatment because they are planned and not emergencies. Many are routine ops such as for hip or knee replacements, cataracts or kidney stones, but the numbers also include some cancer treatments.
This is how the wait list has changed over time:
August 2007: 4.19million – The first entry in current records.
December 2009: 2.32million – The smallest waiting list on modern record.
April 2013: 2.75million – The Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition restructures the NHS. Jeremy Hunt was Health Secretary.
April 2016: 3.79million – Junior doctors go on strike for the first time in 40 years. Theresa May is elected Prime Minister.
February 2020: 4.57million – The final month before the UK’s first Covid lockdown in March 2020.
July 2021: 5.61million – The end of all legal Covid restrictions in the UK.
January 2023: 7.21million – Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledges to reduce waiting lists within a year, by April 2024.
September 2023: 7.77million – The highest figure on record comes during a year hit with strikes by junior doctors, consultants, nurses and ambulance workers.
February 2024: 7.54million – Ministers admit Rishi Sunak’s pledge to cut the backlog has failed.
August 2024: 7.64million – List continues to rise under Keir Starmer’s new Labour Government.
December 2024: 7.46million – The list has fallen for four consecutive months – a glimmer of hope.
May 2025: 7.36m – The lowest for two years, since 7.33m in March 2023.
October 2025: 7.4m – Increased in June, July, August and October.
November 2025: 7.31m – a decline of 86,000 compared to October.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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