A hospital is set to give anxious patients video goggles to distract them during operations.
Patients can watch films or TV shows on the hi-tech headsets while they have surgery under local anaesthetic.
It is thought to be the first time the goggles will be used in a UK hospital.
Two pairs of the £1,000 wi-fi-enabled glasses have been sent to Royal Bournemouth Hospital in Dorset by US firm iTV Goggles. Medics hope it will save cash long-term. Patients comfortable under local anaesthetic with the goggles do not need sedating, meaning they recover faster and spend less time in hospital.
Patients can control what they watch with a remote, and even view live footage of their op on the device. RBH’s endoscopy unit will trial the devices for six months and introduce them to other units if they are a success.
Radiologist Dr Clare Bent said: “We are hoping the goggles will keep [patients] distracted during procedures... which are minimally invasive but complex and time-consuming, and reduce the need for sedation. We hope [to] free up nurses as well as making more bed space available.”
Patient Steve Mountain used the goggles during a prostate procedure. He said: “I was totally engrossed in watching TV to think about what was happing to me.”
