Dudley Primary Care Trust (PCT) has switched to a virtualised desktop environment to improve access to data and information across the organisation.
The project aims to develop a regional shared services technology infrastructure, which will enable workers throughout the region to access key systems and information. Staff will now have the ability to securely access data and applications from within and outside the Trust’s IT environment.
The Trust estimates that it will be able to consolidate its IT server environment from 120 physical to approximately 16 using virtual servers.
Dudley PCT worked with IT consultancy Centralis on the project, who produced a proof of concept design, built on Citrix XenServer, Citrix XenApp, Citrix XenDesktop, AppSense and Secure Remote Access.
The proof of concept has already been used to standardise how GPs access performance data from the PCT. Its information management tool is now deployed as a web application, which bypasses connectivity issues and improves dialogue across the PCT.
“With funding increasingly tight, the shared services model adopted by Dudley PCT highlights a best practice approach for public sector IT, both reducing costs while improving service,” said Ewen Anderson, managing director at Centralis. “With the National Programme for IT bringing large-scale change, local solutions offer the flexibility needed to embrace this approach.”
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