West Herts Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which manages St Albans City Hospital and covers a population of more than 600,000, is the first trust to offer robotic-assisted joint replacement for patients in Hertfordshire and West Essex.

Surgeons can position knee or hip implants with greater accuracy with the help of the Smith & Nephew Cori robot, which builds a 3D model of the patient's anatomy in real time.

The orthopaedic surgical team hope the robot's workload will expand to around 200 joint replacements a year at St Albans – a third of the total.

Consultant orthopaedic surgeon Ravi Popat, who is leading the robotics programme at St Albans, said: ‘We're proud to be providing top tier care for patients who would normally need to travel to a London hospital to benefit from this kind of specialist technology.'

The patient's recovery, in some cases, can then be monitored through the virtual hospital, which allows patients to be cared for from their own home using specialist tech and the support of experts, who can track key health metrics remotely or in person.

In addition, the orthopaedics team aims to use the robot in same day joint replacement operations, which allow patients to recover at home instead of spending up to three days in hospital. This is possible through an enhanced recovery programme that encourages patients to stay as active as possible immediately before and after an operation.

Ben Spiegelberg, hip and knee lead consultant in the orthopaedic team at St Albans, added: ‘It's very exciting for our theatre and surgical teams who have the chance to develop cutting-edge theatre skills and widen their career opportunities.'