Peninsula Pathology Network newsletter
The latest updates for pathology services in the South West
August 2025
Welcome
Work is continuing at pace to create opportunities for investment in pathology estate, people and equipment across the peninsula.
We are continuing to support areas where we have already secured significant new funds such as LIMS and digital integration, digital pathology and artificial intelligence, blood tracking, clinical decision support and others.
Most recently, we have been awarded £2.65m to explore the use of automated systems for histopathology, which is seen as a priority by NHS England. Special thanks to Steve Blunden, Peninsula Pathology Digital Pathology Technical Lead, and Laura Gifford from the NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit in working so hard to put us in the best position.
The government's 10 Year Health Plan sets out some key goals for the NHS to be 'fit for the future'. Pathology underpins many of the plan's ambitions around prevention, digital technology, and care closer to home. You can read the response to the document from the Institute of Biomedical Science here.
In line with these ambitions, we have been considering different options to redesign pathology services for the future, in partnership between the four trusts (more details below).
With the network's Clinical Lead Wayne Thomas, I look forward to meeting pathology colleagues virtually and face-to-face over the coming months. Together, I hope we can shape and influence a brighter and more sustainable future model that delivers the greatest benefits to patients across the whole peninsula.
Working together in our pathology network
Our vision is to create a sustainable model of pathology across the south-west peninsula that helps patient pathways to be as effective and efficient as possible.
The demand for pathology is increasing. The Peninsula Pathology Network is looking into innovative solutions that support the sustainability of pathology services, and through them can have a positive impact on other clinical services.
With colleagues from each of the four acute trusts in our area, we have been working to identify different options to transform pathology services across Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Staff in pathology services have been briefed on the work and will receive further updates soon. We are working on setting up webinars and site visits to go through the options being considered in more detail and seek their input. We are also setting up a central space where we can share information and updates with all staff.
We welcome questions and feedback through pathology service leads or email us the network.
‘This is a unique opportunity to explore new ways of working across the peninsula that will benefit patients, provide investment in pathology services and improve clinical safety. By looking at what we can achieve in partnership, our aim is to increase capacity and make pathology services more sustainable and better for patients.’
Wayne Thomas, Network Clinical Director
New artificial intelligence method to detect early signs of cancer
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Exeter have been working together to find a new way of using standard blood tests to detect cancer warning signs earlier.
Using artificial intelligence (AI) to apply an algorithm that adds in factors such as age and sex, it could potentially identify an additional 10,000 patients a year who could benefit from prompt treatment.
The pilot project has now received £2.4 million funding through the NHS Cancer Programme Innovation Open Call to roll out and test it is working.
Royal Devon is the first in the country to include this algorithm in routine blood analysis to detect raised blood platelet counts. GPs are then informed of a positive result, with advice on treatment next steps for their patient.
New secure digital pathology cloud solution launches
The digital pathology implementation continues across the peninsula. There are now two trusts live and digitally reporting, with University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust live in March 2025 and Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust live in early July.
The network would like to thank the teams from the trusts who have supported this implementation and continue to do so. The remaining trusts are anticipated to go live later this year.
Showcasing careers in pathology
The pathology and genomics teams at Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust hosted a fun-filled careers event on 18 June.
Attendees were challenged to solve a series of medical mysteries that explored the work of the different departments. The detective-themed event was hugely successful in engaging visitors. Around 70 people attended the event, including students, members of the community, and a group of student nurses who are due to qualify this summer and will be joining the Royal Devon team.
Congratulations to everyone involved in putting together an inspirational event. You can see behind the scenes in this film:
Doors open to prospective health and care students in Truro
We held another in our series of successful careers events supporting the well-attended Discovery Day at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust.
There was a fantastic buzz at the Knowledge Spa, with to those interested in a career in the health and care sector, including biomedical sciences.
Attendees had the opportunity to meet and chat with a range of colleagues, take part in interactive workshops and explore various departments in the hospital.
The next careers events will be:
- 20 September 2025: SWITA, Plymouth - Morning session / Afternoon session
- 11 October 2025, 9am-12.30pm: Medical Education Centre, North Devon District Hospital, Barnstaple – details here
- 22 November 2025: Horizon Centre, Torbay - Morning session / Afternoon session
- 24 January 2026: University of Exeter - Morning session / Afternoon session
- 28 February: Knowledge Spa, Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro (details tbc)
These events are held on Saturdays. Click the links for more details and to book a place.
Workforce update
Retention of support workers
We are currently collating development opportunities for support worker roles across the network within all our trusts and are developing a support worker career framework which will highlight areas of training and learning. As part of this process, we sent out a survey for support workers. If you are reading this and have not received it, please follow this link to the survey as we value your contribution.
Leadership development
The network team has pulled together leadership courses and are investigating joining up with NHS Elect to provide some bespoke leadership training for staff. We are focusing on Band 5-6-7 development to start with, but also have recently heard about some priority leadership courses from NHS England for healthcare scientists at Band 8a-8c which we will advertise soon.
IBMS Specialist Portfolio Project (funded via an IBMS grant)
This is a joint collaborative project with the West of England Pathology Network, funded by the Institute of Biomedical Science, where the network trainers are working together to produce:
- a bank of questions for the main pathology disciplines;
- guidance document for training leads; and
- e-learning resources for haematology and histology which will be uploaded to the NHS Learning Platform.
Outreach programme to improve recruitment to pathology
After the success of the outreach events during the last 12 months the network is pleased to announce a continued rolling programme of diagnostic outreach sessions commencing in September 2025. See above for the details of the next ones.
We are always looking for staff from pathology departments to support with these, so if you are interested, please contact the network workforce team. It is a great opportunity for highlighting pathology to school children and their parents and great for your own development too.
Stacey Woodruff will be emailing department managers with a request to release a member of staff to represent their profession for these events. Please do consider releasing supernumerary staff if needed. If you have not received information about this already, please contact Stacey Woodruff for more information.
Meet the Network Trainers
The network currently benefits from three Peninsula Network Education Trainers (PNETs), based at Cornwall, Devon and Plymouth. These roles aim to improve access to training and increase workforce capability across the peninsula.
Here are some examples of what they've been working on:
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
The network has been working together to deliver multiple workshops. The purpose of these workshops is to bring trainers and trainees together across the South West and give them a platform to learn together.
We hosted a specialist portfolio introduction session which was attended by over 100 individuals. Currently we are hosting mentoring workshops to help standardise the way we mentor across the network. The workshops are also there to inspire the next cohort of trainers; they can help those who are interested in being involved in training in the future.
Charlotte Jenkin
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
The implementation of a training timeline in the haematology department at RCHT has helped the department to train staff more effectively and move towards having more staff qualified to assist in the out-of-hours service.
The introduction of the network-wide registration portfolio sessions has been successful in bringing together registration portfolio students and aiding with their progress in the portfolio. This is set to continue with two more cycles planned for next year, one starting in September and the other at the end of February.
Future plans include setting up regular MLA training for the IBMS certificates, and a key skills workshop for qualified biomedical scientists to brush up on any areas which they feel they need help with.
Louise Christophers
Service sustainability
Services like histopathology continue to need more focus to address their ongoing sustainability. We convene a monthly Sustainability and Improvement Steering Group, which includes clinical representation from all trusts.
The new NHS Spending Review has allocated a total of £40 million funding to modernise histopathology services through digitisation and automation. The network was successful in its bid for £2.65m from NHS England, to cover the capital and implementation costs of automation across histopathology services, provided a local case can be justified and agreed. Some automation is being initially trialled and validated at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust.
Diagnostic cytology in Devon scoops national award
Congratulations to the Diagnostic Cytology Team at Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, one of five teams to be recognised with an Achievement Award from The Royal College of Pathologists at a ceremony in London on 19 June.
The team set up a biomedical scientist-led Rapid On-Site Evaluation (ROSE) service, which is helping to improve cancer pathways. They recently wrote about the new approach for Biomedical Scientist, the official publication on the Institute of Biomedical Scientists.
> Read the article to find out more
Marking Biomedical Science Day
Staff at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust celebrate the ninth Biomedical Science Day on 5 June 2025, recognising the contribution of biomedical scientists and laboratory teams across the UK.
IBMS Awards
Well done to the National Pathology Networks Workforce and Education Collaboration, which was shortlisted for Team of the Year at the Institute of Biomedical Science 2025 Awards. The group includes Peninsula Pathology Workforce Lead Louise Jefferies (second from the right) and colleagues in equivalent roles across England.
This passionate collaborative of biomedical scientists was formed just over four years ago as part of NHS England's Practice Educator Programme for pathology.
