Celebrity vicar Richard Coles unveiled a new piece of machinery ahead of his own surgery on Friday.

Richard cut the ribbon on the "O-arm" which provides surgical imaging for spinal surgery.

The 61-year-old was invited to Nuffield Health Brighton Hospital in Woodingdean yesterday for the unveiling of the machinery, which is one of only 34 across the country.

Richard revealed that he will be having surgery on Friday for a slipped disc and found it “encouraging” to see how the technology worked.

The Argus: Demonstrating the StealthStation screens. Pictured from left is Dr Rafid Al-Mahfoudh, Taylor Rogers from Medtronic and Rev Richard ColesDemonstrating the StealthStation screens. Pictured from left is Dr Rafid Al-Mahfoudh, Taylor Rogers from Medtronic and Rev Richard Coles (Image: Mags Potter/Nuffield Brighton)

He said: “It is great to be at the hospital and to cut the ribbon on this new bit of kit. I’m actually in the care of this hospital at the moment because I have prolapsed disc so I’m being looked after by my doctor Mr Al-Mahfoudh.

“Hopefully this means I get an extra cup of tea or sticky bun after my procedure on Friday.

“The interface between tech, medicine and making ill people better, it’s such a fascinating place to be and huge strides are being made in that area.

“It was great to be able to put a screw in a spine even though no one was brave enough to volunteer their own spines, I used a model.

“It’s encouraging to see the amount of skill and tech that people bring to the process.”

The Argus: Richard being shown the O-arm technologyRichard being shown the O-arm technology (Image: Mags Potter/Nuffield Brighton)

The O-arm allows surgeons to view patients’ image data while they are still on the surgical table.

There are also screens which are connected to infrared sensors that link up to the surgeons tools to allow them real time feedback of the instrument during surgery. Both pieces of equipment are made by Medtronic.

Dr Rafid Al-Mahfoudh, consultant neurosurgeon at the hospital, said: “We get a live image of the spine in 3D fashion within the theatre which allows us to navigate so we see precisely where we are at the time of surgery.

“This translates into a few things, smaller incisions, better outcomes which is ultimately what we’re after, quicker recovery from surgery and a higher accuracy.

“With the O-arm we can scan the patient in theatre so we know that the patient is well and everything is in order before they leave the theatre.”