Are you ready to work alongside robots?

Robots are being used in some UK healthcare settings, and the trend is set to continue, says the RCN’s e-health lead

‘The future’s already here – it’s just not very evenly distributed.’

Those prophetic words, spoken by the American author William Gibson 25 years ago, often ring through my head when I’m looking at yet another press release from a tech company about the next robotic device that’s going to revolutionise healthcare.

Whether we like it or not, some inventions we might once have thought of simply as something from science fiction are already being used in health and social care. But what sort of robotic technologies are we talking about, are they really going to help patients and can they replace the care given by nursing staff?