NPIC and Sectra extend collaboration to help NHS move to digital pathology

A multi-million pound NHS initiative that already spans six trusts is growing to help laboratories across different parts of the UK digitise pathology services. Led by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and laboratories in the surrounding region, the National Pathology Imaging Co-operative (NPIC) is a collaboration of NHS trusts, academia and industry partners. Organisations involved are ending their reliance on microscopes by sharing digital images of patient tissue and, in turn, they will be able to send images to specialists more easily and use AI to enhance how illnesses are diagnosed and managed.

NPIC director and practising pathologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Professor Darren Treanor said: “Digital pathology is now a national priority. Many NHS hospitals want to take advantage of this powerful technology to deliver a better service for patients. With NPIC, we hope to provide a proven model, underpinned with advanced technology from Sectra, that will help many more hospitals quickly realise their ambitions and benefit from the groundwork we have already done.”

Supported by a second wave of funding from UK Research and Innovation, a five-year agreement with existing partner Sectra will see NPIC expand its reach to more trusts. Initially this will involve providing support to more hospitals in the north of England, but the agreement will also allow NPIC to scale its approach and the Sectra digital pathology solution and VNA technology to other hospitals across the country.

In addition, NPIC will be able to create two new specialist digital pathology networks in paediatrics and sarcoma tissue cancers, enabling national referral networks to provide the best diagnoses for these cancers.

Picture: The move to digital pathology continues apace across NHS trusts.

Published on page 26 of the April 2022 issue of RAD Magazine.