Supercar designer gifts robot after cancer surgery

A hospital has taken delivery of a state-of-the-art surgical robot, thanks to a donation from a sports car designer.

Gordon Murray, who created the McLaren F1 supercar in 1992, has paid for the Da Vinci Five robot for the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford after having robotic-assisted surgery for oesophageal cancer in 2024.

He has named the robot George after his friend, the Beatle George Harrison, who died of cancer.

"It makes something like winning the 24-hours of Le Mans seem insignificant, this is going to save lives," he told BBC Radio Surrey.

"This machinery fascinated the engineer in me," he said. "It's not anywhere near as intrusive as the operation used to be, and the recovery times are much quicker."

Having been operated on by the Da Vinci Four, he said the five model he was donating had "150 improvements".

"There's no better way of saying thank you to the team than donating one of these," he added.

"Initially I thought I'd leave a donation in my will and then I thought 'it can start saving people now'."

Consultant David Walker said up to 600 patients a year would benefit from the gift.

"Robotics has really changed the way we treat patients," he said. "We're able to get into areas without major surgery, really invasive things.

"Now we're able to get into smaller areas with more precision."

He said this meant patients could get through their pathways in hospital faster and recover faster.

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