West Midlands to digitally transform cancer diagnosis across 17 trusts

NHS patients in the West Midlands are to benefit from a digital pathology programme designed to help reduce cancer backlogs, transform services and improve the speed and accuracy of cancer diagnosis.

As one of the largest digital pathology programmes in Europe, the West Midlands Cancer Alliance covers a population of 5.8 million people across four NHS pathology networks and 17 NHS trusts. Delivered in partnership with Sectra, the programme will provide pathologists with the digital tools needed to collaborate, share expertise and capacity, prioritise urgent cases and manage growing demand across the region. Technical go-live is now complete, meaning pathologists will start the transition from using microscopes and glass slides, to having instant access to high resolution digital images of tissues.

NHS Midlands regional pathology clinical lead and chief scientist at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust Professor Neil Anderson said: “This is one of the most significant events in the last century around how our pathologists work and how that could lead to cancer pathway improvement. This technology speeds up the process and reporting through the pathology departments, but also allows teams to work between hospitals, enabling them to report on images from anywhere in the region, which will support faster, better cancer diagnosis.

“Working on the same platform from Sectra, we will be able to more easily share second opinions, without the need to package and transport slides across different laboratories, which can cause substantial delay. And our new digital platform will help us to explore AI to triage patients rapidly.

“Once patients are diagnosed, multidisciplinary teams will have easier access to important information to help them manage patient care.”

The programme has seen the deployment of a PACS across the region’s pathology networks. This has been provided by Sectra following contract signing last year.

Published on page 22 of the December 2022 issue of RAD Magazine.