From 30 million to 50 million images: expanding a research-ready data pipeline for NHS ophthalmology
In the biggest undertaking of its kind in the UK, a partnership between INSIGHT and the newly opened Northern Ophthalmic Research and Innovation (NORI) Institute in Sunderland is demonstrating how NHS medical imaging data can be made accessible for research across different sites, on a vast scale.
The NHS generates millions of eye scans every year through routine ophthalmology appointments, but much of that imaging data has historically been siloed in local, device-specific systems, without the technical and governance frameworks to make it accessible to researchers. In response, INSIGHT was founded in 2019 as an NHS-led initiative with initial funding from UKRI, supported by Health Data Research UK. Since then, INSIGHT at Moorfields Eye Hospital has developed the world’s largest pipeline of ophthalmic imaging data, and has provide sector leadership in data research ethics and governance to make large-scale anonymised datasets securely accessible for approved research.
Now, INSIGHT in partnership with NORI is extending the same approach to the north east of England, using the new Sunderland Specialist Eye Hospital as the first regional pilot of a national blueprint. The initiative is part of a four-year programme of work for INSIGHT to scale and create a UK-wide ophthalmic resource, funded by a £3.7 million Medical Research Council grant.
INSIGHT Director Pearse Keane and INSIGHT Chief Operating Officer Manjit Benning have worked closely with NORI leadership to lay the groundwork for the pilot, and also sits on NORI’s Scientific Advisory Board. “When the pilot completes, the outcome will be a validated, repeatable model for connecting further NHS trusts to INSIGHT's national network, says Pearse. “By onboarding NORI as a data collection centre with INSIGHT, we expect that the existing data pipeline of more than 30 million ophthalmic images will be closer to 50 million, which will be a phenomenal data resource for the NHS, academic and clinical researchers, and the wider research community.”
NORI co-director David Steel describes how the centre will build on the infrastructure put in place though INSIGHT. “Our ambition is to leverage the new data pipeline and link routine eye imaging with NHS and civic data, applying AI and advanced analytics to translate what we learn into practical tools for clinical use,” he explains. “By connecting eye imaging with general health information, we can build on the field of Oculomics in detecting and predicting many serious diseases much earlier than before, and strengthen Sunderland's reputation as a world leader in eye care and research.”
Making raw NHS data ready for research
INSIGHT will apply its research data platform ingest pipeline at Sunderland Specialist Eye Hospital to draw raw data from hospital systems and standardise it into research-ready datasets. The process converts raw ophthalmic imaging into DICOM format, strips sensitive metadata, and links the result to structured clinical data while excluding patients who have opted out. Because the underlying architecture is cloud-agnostic, existing core infrastructure can be reused rather than rebuilt at new sites. Alongside the pipeline, INSIGHT is producing an onboarding protocol covering governance, ethical approval processes, patient and public involvement and engagement, data protection impact assessments and cloud security checklists, to help NHS trusts reach research-ready status more quickly.
Secure research data infrastructure for NORI will span the University of Sunderland, South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust and external partners. It is being designed on a cloud platform using Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) principles, the same approach successfully used by INSIGHT at Moorfields. Because IaC defines IT systems as text files, it allows for automated, consistent setup of a cloud environment, rather than requiring manual set-up from scratch each time.
The aim of the pilot is to demonstrate that the governance, computing infrastructure and data science expertise developed by INSIGHT at Moorfields can be deployed at another NHS Trust without being rebuilt from scratch, so that eye imaging held anywhere in the NHS can eventually be brought into research use under a consistent framework. For patients, the intended benefit is a larger, more representative national resource capable of supporting earlier detection, better-targeted treatment, and research that reflects populations beyond London.
ABOUT NORI
The Northern Ophthalmic Research and Innovation (NORI) Institute provides health intelligence that helps predict, detect, and prevent disease. NORI was established as a long-term, cross-institutional platform for data science, device innovation, and translational health research. It is backed by more than £5 million in co-investment from the University of Sunderland, Durham University, Newcastle University, South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, and local authorities in Sunderland and South Tyneside.
About David Steel
In addition to his role as joint lead for NORI, together with Matthew Campbell and Camila Caiado, David Steel is a Consultant Ophthalmologist, specialising in vitreoretinal surgery. He is an Honorary Professor of Retinal Surgery at Newcastle University, a visiting Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Liverpool 2018 and an Honorary Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Sunderland 2025.
About Pearse Keane
Pearse Keane is Professor of Artificial Medical Intelligence at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, and a consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust specialising in medical retina. He is also Director of the INSIGHT Eye & Oculomics Data Research Hub at Moorfields Eye Hospital.
