National Pathology Exchange (NPEX) Dataset#
Last modified: 20 Aug 2025
1. Summary#
This dataset is better known as the COVID-19 UK Non-hospital Antigen Testing Results dataset. It covers UK-wide Pillar 2 swab testing for SARS-CoV-2 (drive through test centres, walk in centres, home kits returned by post, care homes, etc.). Data collected include demographic and diagnostic information.
| Dataset Descriptor | Dataset-specific Information |
|---|---|
| Name of Dataset in TRE | NHSE_NPEX |
| Citation (APA) | Data Services, NHS England (NHSE). (2024). NHS England: National Pathology Exchange. UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration (UK LLC). https://doi.org/10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00378-03 |
| Download Citation | Citeproc JSON BibTeX RIS |
| Series | NHS England |
| Owner | Department of Health and Social Care |
| Temporal Coverage in the TRE | 04/2020 - ongoing |
| Geographical Coverage | UK |
| Participant Count | 180916 |
| Number of Variables | 38 |
| Number of Observations | 2807397 |
| Key Link | https://digital.nhs.uk/services/data-access-request-service-dars/dars-products-and-services/data-set-catalogue/covid-19-uk-non-hospital-antigen-testing-results-pillar-2 |
| Keywords | COVID-19, Testing |
| Latest Extract Date | 2024-04-26 |
| Specific Restrictions to Data Use | Research must be related to COVID-19. For examples of research purposes acceptable to NHS England see the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020: https://digital.nhs.uk/about-nhs-digital/corporate-information-and-documents/directions-and-data-provision-notices/secretary-of-state-directions/covid-19-public-health-directions-2020 |
| Build a Data Request | https://explore.ukllc.ac.uk/ |
2. Metrics#
Click on the plus sign to see the number of participants represented in each dataset.
Table 2: Participants from each LPS represented in the NPEX dataset in the UK LLC TRE. Note: Individual cohort counts of less than 10 are suppressed to <10 and excluded from total participant counts for datasets.
3. Version History#
| Version | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Version Date | 21 Dec 2022 | 13 Apr 2023 | 26 Apr 2024 |
| Number of Variables | 38 | 38 | 38 |
| Number of Observations | 1823830 | 2440208 | 2807397 |
| DOI | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00378-01 | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00378-02 | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00378-03 |
| Change Log | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00378-01/activities | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00378-02/activities | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00378-03/activities |
4. Documentation#
We are currently building a documentation storage system which will host useful documents related to datasets and data owners. We will surface these documents on Guidebook.
5. Useful Syntax#
Below we will include syntax that may be helpful to other researchers in the UK LLC TRE. For longer scripts, we will include a snippet of the code plus a link to the UK LLC GitHub repository where you can find the full scripts.