HIGH LIFE Harvest Festival supper at Lincoln Cathedral and a new restaurant.

SUPPER IN THE NAVE OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL AND A NEW RESTAURANT FOR BOSTON!

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Lincoln Cathedral Hosts the High Sheriff’s Harvest Festival Supper

OVER 260 PEOPLE attended a Harvest Supper held in the nave of Lincoln Cathedral recently, hosted by Lincolnshire’s High Sheriff, Tim Strawson. The evening raised over £50,000 with beneficiaries to include The Lincoln Cathedral Fabric Fund and Warm Welcome, which aims to support organisations that open their doors to communities struggling to keep warm this winter amid the rising cost of energy bills. The charity provides care packs and supports buildings like Lincoln Cathedral as they prepare to open their doors to those who are homeless or who will struggle through winter. Entertainment during the evening was provided by three local Military Wives Choirs from Cranwell, Digby and Waddington and by mezzo soprano Laura Wright. Guests also enjoyed a three course supper with local ingredients such as smoked salmon, donated by Lincolnshire’s Alfred Enderby. n

Words & Images: Rob Davis.

The Grand Opening of Meet & Meat

A NEW RESTAURANT in Boston celebrated its grand opening recently with a Champagne reception. Meet & Meat is a new Mediterranean-themed dining experience created by Erkan Kurnaz and his team on the town’s West Street. The restaurant is also home to Unique Bar & Lounge with its retractable roof enabling those enjoying Champagne or a cocktail to enjoy the stars, and to the Inferno entertainment venue. Opening the restaurant following its £1.5m investment was Boston Mayor Cllr Anne Dorrian and consort David Middleton, who marked the opening by breaking a bottle of Champagne onto the ground to the sound of cheers! Features of the restaurant include an open kitchen format as well as dry-aging cabinet to mature the restaurant’s quality cuts of meat, ensuring the very best dining experience. n

Words & Images: Rob Davis.

When Midnight Strikes

AS THE CLOCK STRIKES TWELVE, YOU’LL LOOK GREAT WITH THESE MIDNIGHT-BLUE INSPIRED PRODUCTS

1. Make New Year’s Eve a Night to Remember...

Like the 1980s disco group Shalamar, Guerlain’s Shalimar aims to make New Year’s Eve ‘a night to remember,’ with a floriental scent described as the perfume of temptation. Soft, voluptuous oriental floral notes are enveloped in a creamy vanilla embrace. First launched in 1925, this special edition flaçon celebrates the scent’s timeless longevity. £92/90ml, from John Lewis.

2. Midnight Recovery

Kiehl’s invites you to recover and restore your skin as you sleep with its Midnight Recovery cream, infused with essential Omegas 3 & 6 and botanical oils that restores your skin’s lipid barrier for visibly plumper skin by morning, £41/50ml.

Our ‘Go-To’ Mascara is Estée Lauder’s Double Wear. Created with Estée’s Smudge-Shield technology, with a Lash-Xtender brush to ensure each lash is able to resist high temperatures, humidity and smudging, £26.50, 6ml.

3. Deep Relaxation

An ideal gift or a New Year’s Eve treat from Aromatherapy Associates, designed to relieve the mind and calm the body. Pour in a bath and inhale the scent, or use it as a massage oil. Aromatherapy Associates’ spa provenance makes it a proven and popular brand, £12.

4. Double Wear

5. Keep your guy’s beard in check with Murdoch...

Hirsute chaps across the county will benefit from this neat set of beard grooming paraphernalia, which includes beard shampoo, moisturiser, beard oil and a dedicated beard brush, as well as a guide written by the Redchurch Streetbased gentleman’s barbers shop, £50, from John Lewis.

6. Diptyque hand and hair gift set...

Diptyque presents this gift set, paying homage to its Eau Rose fragrance. The set contains hand cream and hair mist. The brand’s latest collection is inspired by shimmering constellations and starry nights, perfect for New Year’s Eve! £75, John Lewis.

n All our beauty products are available from local independent stockists unless otherwise stated, please note that prices stated are RRP and may vary.

Technology is Revolutionising Healthcare with Robot-Assisted Surgery

It’s a cut above the rest: technology set to revolutionise surgery and transform our expectations of healthcare. Best of all, it’s available right now at The Park Hospital in Nottingham. This month, we speak with Consultant General Surgeon Mr Adam Brooks who is bringing robotically-assisted surgery to his patients, providing greater surgical dexterity and faster recovery times...

Words: Rob Davis.

TECHNOLOGY is at its best when it works in conjunction with the intuition and experience of a human being. Similarly, healthcare works best when a desire for the best patient outcomes is matched by an investment in the best facilities and equipment. So it’s little wonder that Circle Health Group’s The Park Hospital is enjoying great success with one of its newest investments; robotically augmented surgery. 18 months ago, the hospital group invested in its Intuitive Systems Da Vinci X surgical system, where Consultant General Surgeon Adam Brooks uses the machine to help him perform abdominal wall surgical procedures such as hernia repairs and cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal). The notion of ‘an operation done by a robot’ is a bit dramatic, and rather misleading. The robot is NOT performing the surgery, but rather works as an interface to enhance the surgeon’s vision and dexterity. At all stages it’s the surgeon, augmented by technology, bringing to bear their experience, knowledge and intuition during the procedures. “Using Da Vinci we can become technically more precise, well beyond the limitations of human dexterity, whilst retaining everything that makes a human surgeon… human,” says Adam.

“Traditionally, such procedures as those we are increasingly using Da Vinci for, were carried out with open surgery techniques, which give surgeons the whole range of movement.” “From the early 1990s, surgeons began to favour laparoscopic (keyhole) techniques, with smaller incisions ensuring quicker recovery times and surgeons benefiting from 2x magnification of their vision, ensuring a better view of their patient.” “Conventional laparoscopic techniques and instruments don’t provide the range of movement that conventional surgery facilitates. Da Vinci takes the best of both previous approaches and combines them.” “The system utilises 3D high-definition video, so for the first time we can perceive depth. There are more points of articulation too, so we can work laparoscopically, but it’s still like having wrists that can rotate, plus fingers and hands that have a greater range of movement. The system’s magnification factor too is about 10x, so all of a sudden we can see, with incredible clarity, right down to individual blood vessels in the pancreas, for example.” “One of the biggest benefits of the system, though, is its precision. The movement of the machine’s instruments are much more subtle, relative to my physical inputs at the controls, so we can be very nuanced in our gestures.” “It is also a much more ergonomicallyfriendly way to work. As a surgeon I’m used to spending eight hours standing up, but with Da Vinci I’m sitting down, absolutely immersed, with close-up, 3D vision. Experiencing less fatigue is definitely beneficial for any surgeon.” “It is certainly a different way to work, but the benefits are significant. I feel the system is a very good investment for ensuring the best patient outcomes, with smaller ports (incisions) and more nuanced movements meaning less pain and quicker recovery times for patients. That, in turn, will also result in reduced overnight stays.” “I’ve been working alongside other consultants, as in addition to general surgery, The Park Hospital also offers robotically assisted surgery for prostate cancer, colorectal cancer and hysterectomy procedures. I’m very proud that The Park Hospital sees the investment as being good for patient outcomes, and recognise the investment by giving its surgeons the best equipment and facilities to work with.” Circle Health Group was founded in 2004 and is now the UK’s largest independent hospital group, with 52 hospitals. The Park Hospital has 66 en suite rooms, five state-of-the-art theatres and an intensive care unit.

Mr Adam Brooks, left.

Specialisms include general surgery, orthopaedic surgery, cardiac surgery, ophthalmology, gynaecology, urology, cancer care, cosmetic surgery, oral and maxillofacial surgery, private GP services, as well as medical diagnostics with its CT, MRI, ultrasound & Xray services and its cardiac cath laboratory. Robotically-augmented surgery is just one of the ways that Circle Health Group is investing in better patient outcomes, and access to its service is now more flexible than ever.

The Park Hospital see patients on an insured and self-pay basis, and offers flexible finance options*, making treatment more affordable. That means accessing high-quality, consultant-led healthcare in a well-equipped modern private facility is now easier than ever. n

Find Out More: For a free no obligation chat call 0115 966 2000 or see www.circlehealthgroup.co.uk/hospitals/the-park-hospital. The Park Hospital, Nottingham, NG5 8RX.

* Terms and conditions apply, please enquire for further details.

WHAT DO THE PATIENTS THINK?

By the end of January 2023, Consultant General Surgeon Adam Brooks believes the team at The Park Hospital will have performed abdominal wall surgery, augmented by the Da Vinci robot, on over 50 patients. So what does one former patient think of the technology?

“About 20 years ago I had a hernia repair using conventional surgery. Around a year and a half ago, I realised another hernia had developed. I’m a joiner by trade and though I wasn’t in any pain, I didn’t want to risk making it worse as I was waiting for surgery.” “I’d been quoted a waiting list time of around two years, so instead I went for a consultation with Adam Brookes, who told me that he could repair my hernia the following week, at The Park Hospital, in Nottingham” “During the consultation he advised that he would be utilising robotically-assisted surgery, and I was quite comfortable with that, reasoning that whilst the technology is very new, it would be accurate down to the sub-millimetre. The experience was the same as conventional surgery, but the scar left behind was much smaller than it was 20 years ago, and recovery was much faster.” “I was able to walk into the hospital at 11 in the morning and walk out again the same day. I didn’t need to stay over and I felt really comfortable after the procedure.” Mr W from Lincolnshire

Shown right is the patient cart of The Da Vinci X surgical robot system. The surgeon console provides the controls for the robot’s instruments, and provides 3D HD vision. The surgeon remains in control and benefits from assisted dexterity and a better view of their patient.