The investment will help NPIC gather and share digital pathology data from across the NHS, making it easier for researchers to access this vital information. NPIC aims to build a national digital pathology platform for cancer diagnosis in the NHS, where researchers will use this data to train advanced artificial intelligence models.

Safe access to data will allow researchers to gain new insights into cancer, its prevention and treatment.

The project is part of the NHS Data for Research and Development Programme, which is creating a system that will provide rapid access to the world's largest linked health datasets for research.

Professor Phil Wood, chief executive at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, said: ‘By leveraging NPIC's digital pathology platform, we can support researchers with their investigations into various conditions, including cancer, so that they can both spot how to prevent disease and also find the next generation of treatments and cures faster.'

Dr Daljeet Bansal, operations director at NPIC, added: ‘The investment will build on our research infrastructure to provide researchers with safe and secure access to digital pathology images and datasets for developing and evaluating artificial intelligence models and support clinical trials.'