National Pathology Week (NPW) 2025 ran from 3 to 9 November. The College led on 3 different events, while also providing support to College members and their teams who were running events in their local areas.
Our Parliamentary reception, Pathology Solutions, held at the House of Commons on 4 November, was an excellent opportunity for the College to showcase pathology, demonstrating its vital role in healthcare and how it is key to the successful delivery of the NHS 10-year plan.
Pathology Solutions was kindly sponsored and introduced by Dr Simon Opher, MP for Stroud (Labour). The programme included speeches and interactive stands, which all aimed to demonstrate how pathology services are working at the forefront of our health system, and how pivotal they are to the successful implementation of the 3 ‘shifts’ of the NHS 10-Year Health Plan: moving healthcare from hospital to community, from analogue to digital and shifting the focus from sickness to prevention.
Dr Opher shared with attendees his experience as a GP and how this had shown him first-hand the importance of pathology to healthcare; he emphasised how pathology is vital for patients and key to the successful delivery of the NHS 10-year plan. Diagnostics and pathology services are involved in over 85% of patient pathways, which makes them central to a functioning health system.
Presentations by RCPath Fellows
We were grateful to Dr Kevin Deans, Professor Sarah Coupland and Dr Ian Godber for their excellent speeches on pathology’s role in the 3 shifts. Our 4th speaker, Professor Adrian Bateman, shared fascinating insights on the vital role of histopathologists in the cancer diagnosis and treatment pathway. Our President, Dr Bernie Croal, also highlighted the need for investment and reform in the pathology workforce, IT infrastructure and pathology estates during the oral presentations.
Interactive stands and networking
Delegates, including representatives from industry, government, research, health charities and think tanks, were able to speak to a wide range of experts working in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, inherited diseases and infections at our interactive stands. Over 30 people (the majority of whom were College members) were involved in the development and delivery of the stands. We’re very grateful to all who contributed to the event and its success.
The event was sponsored by Novo Nordisk, Roche Diagnostics and Illumina. None of them had any input to the programme or content of the event. We are very grateful for their support.
Event follow-up
Following on from the event, Dr Opher tabled some parliamentary questions on important areas in pathology, which were answered in parliament.
We asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will increase funding for the pathology workforce, estates and IT infrastructure, and pathology disciplines involved in the pathways for cancer patients.
Ashley Dalton MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, responded: “As part of the £600 million in capital for diagnostics in 2025/26, announced as part of the Spending Review, the NHS is investing in histopathology automation technology, which will speed up pathology test reporting across England, helping to ensure that patients get their diagnoses faster and supporting reductions in elective waiting lists.
We are funding all pathology networks to increase digital capabilities by March 2026. This will reduce unnecessary waits and repeat tests to ensure that patients receive their blood test results sooner. These actions will help improve patient pathways, including for cancer.”
We also asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care if he will ensure that (a) universal lay terminology is used in the NHS app and (b) there is signposting to Lab Tests Online-UK (LTO-UK) to enable patients to interpret their diagnostic results correctly.
Dr Zubir Ahmed MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, responded: “There is signposting to LTO-UK to help patients interpret their diagnostic results, though this may depend on how the patient's GP has configured its systems. We currently provide links to LTO-UK for approximately 70 of the most common test types. While the NHS App itself primarily displays results along with any accompanying doctor’s comments or actions, GP systems can have embedded links to LTO-UK alongside the test results, providing a direct route for patients to access reliable information at the point of care.”
We plan to capitalise on the profile-raising achieved by the event, with the aim of running further meetings and events at Westminster, as well as the devolved nation parliaments. You can see more of the photos and read about the feedback from delegates in our news post about this event.
On 5 November, the College delivered an online event in collaboration with 9 of the 10 Pathology Alliance organisations. Aimed at school and university students, the event involved 20 speakers from a wide range of pathology specialties. Between them, they explained 19 different pathology tests – with each talk delivered in 5 minutes or less. Dame Suzy Lishman hosted this fast-paced and engaging event, which attracted over 600 registrations and over 300 attendees on the day.
Talks included ‘Using blood to detect damage to the heart’, ‘Multiplex PCR tests for respiratory infections’ and ‘Which test is best? Biopsy versus FNA in feline oral cancer’. Speakers were invited by each of the Pathology Alliance organisations. .
The recording of this Zoom webinar event has been edited into 19 short videos, which have been uploaded to our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDck0AxF5co&list=PLrDjoT_dO5WFDsGNca_yVvMZuaYuo0w1a. These will be shared on the Pathology Alliance organisations’ digital platforms in the coming months.
On the Thursday of NPW, the College’s Corporate and Public Engagement team delivered an online event aimed at undergraduates and foundation doctors that featured a fascinating talk from RCPath Undergraduate and Foundation Lead, Dr Matthew Clarke.
Entitled ‘Pathology for undergraduates and foundation doctors – mystery cases’, the event explored a range of interesting cases in diagnostic neuropathology, where finding the diagnosis had been a challenge. The event was attended by around 75 people and was chaired by Vice President for Communications, Dr Noha El Sakka. You can see the edited recording of this event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNQm8kTF5uA&list=PLrDjoT_dO5WFkIsyThDfEjNeLmtgPFXca&index=4
We were delighted to see photos on social media of our members and their teams running a range of events and activities around the UK and beyond for NPW. These included information stands in hospitals, laboratory tours, online talks and social media posts. We were able to support many of the in-person activities by sending event organisers some of our branded promotional items and information booklets.
Thank you to all our members who organised an event or activity and supported our aim to celebrate pathology and to highlight the important contribution pathologists and clinical scientists make to healthcare.
NPW 2026 will run from 2 to 8 November. The theme is to be confirmed, and more information will be added to our NPW page in due course.
Meet the author
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Penny Fletcher
Corporate and Public Engagement Manager
