NPIC digital pathology network expands to 15 NHS sites with UCLH go-live
The NPIC digital pathology network has expanded to 15 NHS sites after going live at University College London Hospitals.
The National Pathology Imaging Co-operative, known as NPIC, is based at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and connects pathologists and laboratory experts through what it says is the UK’s first national digital pathology network. Further sites are expected to join later this year.
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has implemented NPIC’s digital pathology platform at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
Described as the UK’s largest dedicated neurological and neurosurgical hospital, it provides diagnosis, treatment and care for conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system.
The hospital is expected to use the technology to support more efficient analysis and diagnosis for the 1.8m people it serves.
“Working with Leeds Teaching Hospitals’ NPIC programme as part of a North Central London (NCL)-wide digital pathology solution, our Neuropathology department has successfully delivered a locally led implementation tailored to our service,” said Dr Angela Richard, head biomedical scientist in the neuropathology department at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
“Delivery has taken place through a phased programme, including scanner deployment, integration with Sectra, validation, and staff training, supported by close collaboration between clinical, IT, and NPIC teams.
“Following go-live, we are now at an exciting early stage of adoption, with digital pathology beginning to be embedded into routine practice and providing a strong foundation for future service development.”
NPIC says its platform enables faster and more accurate diagnoses by allowing pathologists to securely access and analyse high-resolution digital slides remotely.
The move from traditional glass slide workflows to digital systems is intended to reduce diagnostic turnaround times, improve collaboration across a national network of clinical experts and provide faster access to second opinions.
It also reduces the need to transport physical slides between sites, which can improve efficiency and lower associated costs.
The platform supports the development and evaluation of artificial intelligence tools, which NPIC says could improve diagnostic accuracy in the future.
With the addition of the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, the network now includes 15 live sites across England.
These include Great Ormond Street Hospital, which provides specialist healthcare to more than 76,000 children each year, and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust, which is internationally recognised for its leadership in orthopaedic care.
Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital are expected to join the platform in the coming months.
“Our continued expansion evidences our commitment to building a national digital pathology ecosystem across the UK,” said Usman Arif, programme head at NPIC.
“Our partner NHS trusts not only benefit from a secure, scalable infrastructure that will enable AI integration into routine diagnostic workflows, but they also receive long-term, embedded support ensuring that digital transformation translates into sustainable clinical and operational impact for the benefit of the patients.”
For NHS organisations, NPIC says the consortium provides opportunities to collaborate, share expertise and deploy digital sovereign innovation at scale.
It is intended to support more integrated, patient-centred diagnostic services, in line with the 10-year health plan and the shift from analogue to digital services.
The NPIC programme is delivered in partnership with Exponential-e and Sectra, which provide the technology and expertise behind the national infrastructure.
Exponential-e provides a resilient, scalable and data-sovereign hosting platform on which Sectra’s centralised Picture Archiving and Communication System, or PACS, is based.
PACS is used to store, retrieve and share medical images, including digital pathology slides.
The system enables the secure storage, sharing and management of digital pathology images for clinical and research purposes.
Leica Biosystems supplies and deploys digital pathology scanners that support the integration of the technology into NHS diagnostic pathways.
Sectra provides its digital pathology solution and Vendor Neutral Archive, or VNA, which supports the storage, accessibility and sharing of pathology images across different systems and organisations.
As the NPIC programme develops in 2026 and beyond, its focus will remain on expanding the network nationally and launching more AI-driven diagnostic capabilities.
The tools, which will be built on the Exponential-e platform, are expected to support large-scale image comparison and deep learning-based pattern recognition.
Deep learning is a form of AI that learns to identify patterns in large amounts of data.
NPIC says the technology could support more precise and timely diagnoses, particularly in cancer and other critical diseases.
