The first ever audit of UK laparoscopic operating theatres has revealed that only one in ten hospitals (11 per cent) are operating with the highest standard of equipment and resource considered adequate to carry out safe, advanced laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery.

The audit found a wide variation in the availability and quality of equipment available in theatres across the country, including almost 28 per cent of hospitals operating with obsolete and, in some cases, potentially unsafe standard equipment.