NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership, on behalf of Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board, contracted with Leica Biosystems for its Aperio digital pathology solutions.

This partnership has enabled the merging of three sites: Glan Clwyd, Wrexham & Bangor to form the new trust: North Wales.

Digital pathology enables rapid distribution, eliminating slide shipping costs and travel time. Additionally, the digital slides can be annotated to facilitate a more efficient and accurate review from one pathologist to another. The use of digital pathology is leveraging NHS Wales as a pioneering healthcare organization.

The Leica Biosystems complete, multi-site digital pathology solution and its Aperio scanners will now facilitate a shared Cellular Pathology service across North Wales.  Aperio eSlide Manager, a digital pathology management software was chosen to network the sites.

During the initial stage, virtual images will be used by NHS Wales for priority cases that will be presented at multidisciplinary tumor boards. Approximately two to three hundred images per week will be used in the first year. An increase in virtual images production will take place in a later phase.

Leica Biosystems is currently working closely with the NHS Wales team to ensure the optimal implementation of this innovative project.  Through its “framework agreement” the use of digital pathology will also allow any other pathology laboratory in Wales to participate.

“With Aperio digital pathology, we are solving the problem of delivering high quality, equitable histopathology services across geographically distinct urban and rural communities,” stated Dr. David Fletcher, interim general manager for North Wales Managed Clinical Support Services at Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board, “Digital pathology also addresses the challenging background of medical recruitment and retention in the UK.” 

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