Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust transforms frontline clinical workspaces with Phoenix and Microsoft Windows 365.
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a digitally mature NHS organisation known for its progressive approach to IT and cloud adoption. With a strong focus on innovation and clinical efficiency, the Trust has built a reputation for leveraging technology to improve both staff experience and patient outcomes. This is reflected in its designation as an Advanced Foundation Trust (AFT), which officially recognises the highest performing NHS providers in England.
Working with Phoenix Software for over a decade, the Trust has continually evolved its end-user computing strategy to deliver the best possible experience for its clinical users, and ultimately its patients. “We have continually leveraged technological innovation to enhance our capabilities and lead transformative change,” explains Bob Beckwith, Innovation and Transformation Manager at Northumbria Healthcare.
This philosophy has driven the Trust’s continual investment in the latest generation of end-user computing technology, initially with on-premises virtual desktops, then Azure Virtual Desktops during COVID, and now Windows 365 (W365) Cloud PCs. Phoenix has been their trusted advisor throughout this journey, supporting strategic decisions and guiding the Trust’s ongoing cloud transformation journey.
Key facts
- Sector: Healthcare (NHS Trust)
- Solutions: Windows 365 Flex Shared, Microsoft Intune, IGEL OS, Imprivata Enterprise Access Management
- Users: ~60 users initially, scaling to 150+ concurrent users
- Cloud adoption: ~30–40% of infrastructure in Azure
Northumbria initially identified challenges within radiology, where clinicians noticed poor performance and latency when accessing systems via VPN. Most challenging of all were long load times for images, where it could take up to 20 minutes for a single, high-resolution image to load.. With more than 400,000 diagnostic images processed each year, and a workforce spread across both rural and urban sites where internet quality can be highly variable, the Trust needed to address this challenge as a matter of urgency.
Beyond the challenges in the radiology department, frontline clinicians relied on traditional Windows-based kiosks integrated with Imprivata for single sign-on (SSO), they faced an inconsistent user experience and significant performance disparities across shared devices.. To resolve these widespread challenges, Bob Beckwith, Innovation and Transformation Manager at Northumbria Healthcare, turned to Windows 365 Cloud PCs.
The Trust began with an initial trial of Windows 365 Cloud PCs among the ~15 users in the radiology department to address the matter of slow image loading times. Building on the success of this projectthe Trust embarked on a broader modernisation of its clinical workspace with Windows 365 Cloud PCs to create a scalable, secure, and consistent user experience across more departments.
Phoenix designed and delivered a modern, cloud-based clinical workspace platform combining:
- Windows 365 Flex Shared Cloud PCs
- IGEL OS endpoints
- Imprivata Enterprise Access Management
- Microsoft Intune for unified endpoint management
- Support for a variety of endpoints e.g. thin clients, shared clinical workstations, personal/home devices
The rollout followed a phased approach, with radiology being the first department using cloud-based endpoints. The Trust then expanded the W365 deployment into gynaecology and ambulatory care. Additional use cases are now being considered in data and administrative teams.
Benefits (outcomes)
- 99% reduction in image load times: Images that could take upwards of 20 minutes to load can now be delivered within seconds, with no compromise in their resolution.
- “Any device, anywhere, anytime” access to systems with rapid login/logout for the Trust’s 7,500 clinicians using their ID badges for SSO.
- Seamless roaming across shared environments, enabling clinicians to access their personalised desktop and continue their last session regardless of device or location.
- Scalability in real-time: The Trust can seamlessly alter the specification of any Windows 365 PC to suit the needs of specific users via Intune. E.g. CPU speed, memory or GPU requirements can all be changed at the touch of a button.
- Extended the Trust’s existing security footprint to W365: Phoenix was able to apply the same firewall rules and security policies from existing Windows 11 devices to the W365 infrastructure. Bob Beckwith comments: “The migration to Windows 365 was underpinned by a seamless transfer of all existing security controls through Intune. As a result, we avoided the need to rebuild years of security policy development, saving substantial time and ensuring a consistent and uncompromised security posture across our cloud endpoints.”
- Maximum security via Zero-Trust architecture: Windows 365 Cloud PCs use Microsoft’s Zero Trust architecture with devices managed by Intune, meaning users must login via their Entra ID (via Imprivata SSO).
- No reliance on VPN: User-based identity controls further enhances security while improving performance.
- Unified security controls and software deployment with Microsoft Intune.
- No data stored in endpoints: With everything running within the Windows 365 cloud, no patient data is ever stored on clinical endpoints or home working devices.
- Simplified endpoint management via the Intune platform.
- Eliminated VPN dependency for high-demand workloads, improving performance and reducing infrastructure strain.
- Reduced hardware requirements: With W365 able to run on much lower-spec thin clients, the Trust benefits from lower overall capital expenditure and can potentially double lifecycle of clinical devices from ~3 to 6 years.
- Flexible scaling and rapid provisioning of new Cloud PCs: “By using Intune, new Windows 365 Cloud PCs can be deployed quickly and consistently, while ongoing updates and enhancements can be delivered centrally in real time with minimal operational overhead.” Bob Beckwith.
Future-ready platform
In summary, this initiative has accelerated the Trust’s adoption of Windows 365 as a strategic platform, extending its use beyond the specialist radiology use-case into the broader frontline clinical environment. The Trust now has a scalable, repeatable W365 model that can be deployed elsewhere within the organisation, such as those being explored in the data and administrative teams.
“By standardising on Windows 365, Intune, and Microsoft-native security controls, we have significantly reduced our reliance on legacy infrastructure and simplified our supplier ecosystem. Windows 365 has also given us the secure, cloud-based foundation to support our broader Azure, cloud and AI ambitions with confidence,” concludes Bob.
Looking to modernise your workspaces and enable secure, flexible access for your workforce?
Talk to Phoenix Software about how Windows 365 can transform your organisation with a cloud-based endpoint strategy.