New programme to help tackle cancer backlogs in the West Midlands
NHS patients are to benefit from a digital pathology programme.
It's 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 initiative covers a population of 5.8 million people across four NHS pathology networks and 17 NHS trusts.
Pathologists will now start the transition from using microscopes and glass slides, to having instant access to high resolution digital images of tissues for patients across a large geographical area.
Professor Neil Anderson, NHS Midlands regional pathology clinical lead and chief scientist at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, 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. The earlier you can detect cancer, there is the potential for better outcomes for patients.
"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 rapidly triage patients.
“Once patients are diagnosed, multi-disciplinary teams will have easier access to important information to help them manage patient care. All of this will help us to tackle backlogs in cancer care and make a big difference for our patients and the future of the profession.”
The programme has seen the deployment of a picture archiving and communication system, or PACS, across the region’s pathology networks.
This means pathologists can more easily work together at a distance, or at home without the need to transport physical slides.
Phil Williams, NHS England’s head of digital transformation for the Midlands, said: “The significance and scale of this programme is enormous. Bringing four pathology networks together on one platform allows for mutual support and image sharing throughout a huge geographical area, where there are multiple trauma centres, millions of patients and increasingly in-demand pathology services.
"The technology we have deployed is an enabler for sharing reporting capacity across the West Midlands – giving us the tools on which we can accelerate the strategic long term service transformation that is already underway to allow NHS services and professionals to work together around the needs of patients.
“Our programme, which uses private cloud, gives us the scalability and flexibility we need. The platform is also based on standards, allowing it to interoperate with other NHS systems and enabling us to take data out of silos, opening new possibilities to inform potentially life-saving research.
“Deploying the platform at this scale will also allow us to leverage AI on an equitable and effective basis – with the ability to trial emerging applications in one location and share learnings regionwide.”