Interesting article Barry.
I could have insisted on robot surgery but knew it was going to take another referral to another hospital so was keen to go ahead with non-robot believing the experience of the surgeon was a known and likely to be as good as robotic.
Medically the article doesn't change the order of preferences, i.e. robot, non-robot, open. It says the difference between robot and non-robot isn't big and asks if the cost is justified. It also says that some surgeons prefer open.
No doubt some cases are better with open and in a sample of surgeons you'd be almost certain to find some who prefer open even though it's a riskier and more costly operation in terms of bed time.
Also prostate surgery wasn't part of the trials listed in the article and so we're reading into it the same applies. In the newspaper I read the Leeds surgeon says robots shouldn't be introduced 'as a free for all' but they should be continued as they will give advantages in more complex surgery in time.