DOCTORS from across the globe have descended on Colchester for a conference into pioneering keyhole surgery.

Colchester General Hospital joined forces with Anglia Ruskin University to host an international conference for laproscopic bowel surgeons.

Surgeons used the hospital’s reputation as a specialist centre in keyhole surgery to persuade delegates to come to Essex rather than sunny Florida, where the gathering has been held for the last five years.

Tan Arulampalam, a consultant surgeon in Colchester who helped organise the conference, said: “It’s quite a coup to have got this to Colchester. Anyone who is anyone comes to these events.

“We showed them our results and it was good enough.”

About three quarters of bowel surgery operations in Colchester are done using keyhole surgery, compared to 20 per cent at Basildon Hospital.

The length of stay for Colchester patients is one of the shortest in the UK and death rates are among the lowest, at 3 per cent.

Mr Arulampalam said: “Laproscopic surgery is still really in its infancy. In the UK, the uptake is only really a third of the country.

“When this started 20 years ago it was thought to be a bit leftfield.

“Slowly, surgeons have said we will invest the time to train in this. Now, of the 300 cancers we remove a year, the majority are done laproscopically.

“When we say to patients ‘we can either make a massive cut, it will take three months for you to recover and the chances of complications are much greater or would you like an operation where there are small scars, which has good results and where it will take you six weeks to recover’ it doesn’t take a genius to work out which one they will go for.”

Among the highlights of the four-day programme were two complicated operations carried out at Colchester General Hospital and broadcast live to a lecture theatre at Anglia Ruskin’s Postgraduate Medical Institute in Chelmsford.

The audience, which included pioneers in keyhole surgery, watched some of the world’s leading surgeons in action.

The live link-up allowed delegates to ask the surgeons questions about their technique while they worked.

One of the Colchester operations was the removal of a tumour from a patient’s bowel, complicated by their obesity, and an aeortic aneurysm.

The other was to remove part of the intestine of a patient with Crohn’s Disease and was carried out by Dr Jeffrey Milsom, of New York.

Both doctors had to complete stringent checks by regulatory body General Medical Council to allow them to operate in the UK Dr Milsom said: “It’s helpful to interact and share ideas with experts from across the world.

“There is a globalisation of this knowledge and no one place is way behind or way ahead.

“I would say 80 per cent of people who attended were established surgeons, so it is a great way to learn and share ideas.”

As part of the conference, Colchester General Hospital’s Iceni Centre also hosted two courses, one in keyhole bowel surgery and the other in MRI for rectal surgery.

Bruce Sizer, consultant oncologist based at Essex County Hospital, and Nicola Lacey, consultant radiologist based at Colchester General Hospital, both taught on the course.

Mr Arulampalam said: “Our reputation allows us to improve patient care by attracting the best staff.

“The best staff will only go where they think they will get the best training.

“We have a huge queue of people wanting to come and train in Colchester. We have the very best people applying to do our surgical jobs, which means high quality patient care.

“Hosting an event like this can only enhance our reputation.”