Farnborough, United Kingdom - Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), has supported the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust (NWAngliaFT) to introduce digital histopathology capabilities to help improve patient outcomes by quicker referrals and diagnosis in the region. The digital pathology solution will also help Peterborough City Hospital, part of NWAngliaFT, to manage the anticipated backlog of cases as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic through improved speed of reporting and by facilitating much quicker transfer for second opinions, enabling case reviews between multiple professionals and aiding higher quality training.
In April 2020, the Histopathology Department at Peterborough City Hospital experienced a slowdown in routine pathology work coming into the laboratory during the first COVID-19 lockdown. During this period, the department installed the Philips Digital Pathology Solution, including two Ultra Fast Scanners and Philips Image Management Software, a solution that can be used to digitally analyse pathology images instead of using the traditional glass slide method.
Dr David Bailey, Consultant and Clinical Lead for Cellular Pathology at Peterborough City Hospital commented: “As a 30-year veteran of reading glass slides on a microscope, I could never have imagined that I would ever find digital pathology as useful as glass microscopy. Now that we have it, I believe the image quality and functionality represent major improvements, and that we sometimes see things on digital that we don’t necessarily pick up on glass.”
Since the commencement of the recovery phase following the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trust’s Histopathology Department has seen a 25% increase in slide workload. The digital pathology solution has enabled the team to moderate the impact of this increased workload by enabling quicker diagnosis, while also facilitating speedier transfer of complex cases for second opinions and the opportunity to collaborate with multiple professionals from other hospitals.
