Leeds Teaching Hospitals has become the first in a consortium of NHS trusts to go live with the Sectra picture archiving and communication system (PACS).
It began to use the system in October, allowing pathology images to be interrogated through a range of devices.
Five more trusts in the Northern Pathology Imaging Co-operative (NPIC) are set to deploys the Sectra PACS soon, with others to follow next year.
The deployments are taking place under a £17 million programme funded by UK Research and Innovation and industry partners to connect pathology services across the region.
It is aimed at a full digitisation of NHS laboratories covering a population of 3 million people.
Trusts to follow Leeds will include Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, and Airedale NHS Foundation Trust.
Modernising pathology
NPIC director Dr Darren Treanor said: “Collectively, we are modernising our pathology services to become amongst the most advanced and interconnected anywhere in the world, and we hope to share our experience to help others across the NHS and beyond.
“The days of using glass slides and paper notes to determine and communicate a patient’s diagnosis are numbered. As we move to digital ways of working we can improve quality and create a more structured digital workflow.”
The project will also involve the consortium delivering a vendor neutral archive from Sectra. This will allow the trusts to pool imaging and build a platform for artificial intelligence crucial to improving diagnoses for cancers and other illnesses.
Image by Yale Rosen, CC BY-SA 2.0
