Case Study: Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust achieves faster clinical access and saves up to 2 hours per shift with Citrix iDesktop (XenApp/XenServer)

Citrix eases workload for Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, one of the UK’s largest hospital trusts, faced slow, unreliable Windows XP desktops that delayed access to patient records, frequently corrupted profiles, left terminals locked by absent users, and required specific PCs for legacy applications — all while rising costs and end-of-life software forced a fast, low-disruption replacement that a small IT team could deploy.

The Trust implemented iDesktop, a persistent hosted shared desktop built on Citrix XenApp/XenServer with NetScaler and App-V, delivering secure Tap-and-Go access from ~2,000 thin clients and any device offsite. Piloted in A&E and the Acute Medical Unit, it cut record-access times dramatically (clinicians estimate up to two hours saved per 12‑hour shift), removed locked-PC bottlenecks, enabled any-device remote access, reduced energy and hardware costs, and made IT support more proactive.

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust

Jonathan Murden

IT Operations Manager