News

Southern Cross North Harbour Hospital is the first hospital in New Zealand and the sixth in Australasia to receive the latest generation Mako® 4 robotic system for orthopaedic surgery.

The Mako 4 will enhance the hospital’s orthopaedic offerings, especially in knee and hip replacement procedures, helping to deliver surgical outcomes and support with recovery times and patient satisfaction.1-3

Southern Cross North Harbour is part of Southern Cross Healthcare, the largest independent healthcare network in the country, and a leader in surgical robotic capability in New Zealand.

The addition of the Mako 4 complements the hospital’s existing suite of robotic systems, including the previous generation Mako robot, which it installed in 2023, CORI® and OMNIBotics® orthopaedic robots and a da Vinci® for urology, general and gynaecology procedures. It is the first hospital in New Zealand to have two Mako systems.

Debbie Minton, Southern Cross North Harbour Hospital’s General Manager, says the investment in Mako 4 was driven by the success of the first platform within the hospital and strong demand from specialists.

“We have done hundreds of knee joint replacement surgeries with the Mako since we introduced it in 2023, with more than 10 specialists using the platform. We had demand for the robot which exceeds availability and a desire to expand to hip procedures, which the Mako 4 enables.

“Having the Mako 4 up and running will mean we can provide this technology to more people in the Auckland region and beyond.”

Mr Matt Walker, an orthopaedic surgeon at Southern Cross North Harbour hospital, says robotic assistance is the next step in knee and hip joint surgery.

“It means surgeons can work with greater accuracy and place implants more precisely, which reduces the impact on surrounding tissue. This means patients can look forward to a more consistent outcome and potentially experience faster recovery times.”

Southern Cross Healthcare CEO Chris White says the investment in surgical robots reinforces the organisation’s commitment to provide healthcare to more New Zealanders.

With more than 18 hospitals and surgical day stay facilities across New Zealand, Southern Cross Healthcare Group already plays an important role in supporting the country’s healthcare capacity and access – last year providing care to 250,000 people across its owned and joint venture hospitals, and healthcare facilities.

“To support our large national footprint and the increasing demand for healthcare services, we are continuing to invest in the latest technology, White says.

“We have multi-specialty surgical robotic capability in place at all of our hospitals, supporting our medical specialists with the latest tools as well as helping to improve patient outcomes.

“Investing in robotics provides our patients with more choices and also plays a part in ensuring that we continue to attract and retain medical specialists and clinical staff throughout our network.”

Southern Cross Healthcare works with more than 1,200 credentialled medical specialists and is the second biggest employer of nurses in New Zealand.

1. Kayani B, Konan S, Tahmassebi J, Pietrzak JRT, Haddad FS. Robotic-arm assisted total knee arthroplasty is associated with improved early functional recovery and reduced time to hospital discharge compared with conventional jig-based total knee arthroplasty: a prospective cohort study. The Bone and Joint Journal. 2018;100-B:930-7.

2. Dretakis, K, Igoumenou, VG. Outcomes of robotic-arm assisted medial unicompartmental knee arthroplasty: minimum 3-year follow-up. European Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery & Traumatology. 2019 Aug;29(6):1305-1311.

3. Bukowski B.R, Chughtai M, Anderson P. et al. Improved functional outcomes with robotic compared with manual total hip arthoplasty. Surg Technol Int. 2016 Oct.