Digital pathology goes live at UCLH in collaborative NHS launch
12 September 2025
Publish date: 12 September 2025
On 11 August, UCLH went live with digital pathology, joining Royal Free London and Whittington Health in a coordinated North Central London (NCL) rollout. This is a significant milestone in our journey to modernise diagnostic services, moving from traditional glass slides to digital images, and a key ambition of the 10 Year Health Plan for England to shift “from analogue to digital.”
Digital pathology involves capturing high-resolution images of glass slides using scanning devices, allowing pathologists to view and interpret samples on medical-grade computer screens. Moving to digital images means pathologists can review cases remotely, share expertise across sites, and streamline workflows.
In just a few weeks after go-live, pathologists at UCLH are already using digital images to support diagnoses and reporting in over 60% of histopathology cases.
Benefits for patients
The ability to share digital images instantly means second opinions and specialist reviews can happen more quickly, reducing delays in treatment especially for complex or urgent cases. It also eliminates the risks associated with transporting physical slides, such as damage or loss. Over time, this improved efficiency is expected to shorten turnaround times for test results, further ensuring patients receive timely and accurate care.
Benefits for staff
Digital pathology introduces greater flexibility and resilience as pathologists will be able to access and report cases from any location. Digital workflows reduce manual handling and administrative tasks, allowing more time for clinical decision-making, education, and research. Integration with Epic ensures continuity in reporting, while access to national networks like NPIC enables collaboration with subspecialty experts and supports training across trusts.
Dr Charles House, medical director, medicine board and clinical SRO for the programme at UCLH, said: “A shift from analogue to digital is central to the government's ambitions for NHS reform, aiming to improve efficiency, patient experience, and outcomes. Digital pathology will ensure NCL is at the forefront of digital innovation in pathology services.
“By working together, we’re improving diagnostic services for patients and creating a more flexible, connected environment for our staff.”
Professor Manuel Rodriguez-Justo, digital pathology lead for cellular pathology at UCLH, said: “The digital pathology transformation programme will change histopathology practice, strengthening diagnostic accuracy and opening a huge opportunity for application of AI platforms in diagnosis, education and research”.
Professor Sebastian Brandner, clinical lead for neuropathology at Queen Square, added: “We are excited about the addition of neuropathology services to this programme later this year. Digital pathology is a major step forward for all pathology services. It will give our teams more flexibility, resilience, and access to a national network for training and collaboration.”
Looking ahead
The next stage of the programme is the rollout of digital pathology for Neuropathology at Queen Square and setting up home reporting.
As digital pathology is introduced across specialties at UCLH, we aim to build a robust, digitally enabled diagnostic service. This lays the foundation for integrating artificial intelligence tools that can assist with initial slide screening, helping pathologists focus on complex cases. It also creates a rich archive of digital images for education and research, ensuring long-term value for both clinical and academic communities.
The National Pathology Imaging Cooperative (NPIC) based at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is a collaboration between NHS, academic, and industry partners to deploy digital pathology across the NHS and develop AI tools to improve diagnosis.
UCLH, Royal Free London, and Whittington Health have joined NPIC’s national digital pathology network. NPIC’s expansion has been made possible through strategic collaboration and through funding from the Digital Diagnostics Capability Programme within NHS England.
This partnership enables shared expertise, faster second opinions, and improved diagnostic quality across England. It supports the NHS’s goal of moving from analogue to digital, enhancing care for patients and empowering staff.
This achievement reflects the combined efforts across Digital Healthcare and Pathology teams at UCLH and Royal Free London (both part of the joint venture partnership with The Doctors Laboratory which forms Health Services Laboratories), Whittington Health, NPIC at Leeds, and our technology partners.
