NHS Christie transforms IT operations for staff and clinicians
With Freshservice, the UK’s largest single-site cancer hospital simplifies ITSM, streamlines requests, and frees staff for higher-value work
“We chose Freshservice because we could manage it ourselves. We didn’t want a system that needed specialist developers or professional services for every change.”
Business challenge
Legacy ITSM tool had become complex, costly, and difficult to update without external specialists
Clinicians and staff relied on vague email requests, creating delays and poor ticket quality
Manual procurement approvals slowed delivery of essential equipment and services
Business outcome
Self-service portal adoption streamlined ticket intake and improved request quality
Procurement approvals automated, accelerating service delivery and reducing administrative load
Freshworks solutions, powered by AWS, provide a strong and scalable foundation for end-to-end cloud operations
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust operates the largest single-site cancer hospital in Europe, with 60,000 patients and 4,000 staff.
Healthcare
U.K.
At The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, a 4,000+ person workforce supports the largest single-site cancer hospital in Europe. But its legacy IT service management tool had grown into “an absolute beast,” says Digital Operations Lead Dan Hollands — costly to maintain, hard to update, and producing poor-quality data. Clinicians relied on vague email requests like “my printer’s broken,” leaving IT staff chasing details instead of fixing problems.
In 2023, The Christie replaced its system with Freshservice and Freddy AI Copilot, gaining an intuitive, modern platform that the internal team could configure and evolve without costly outside help. A new self-service portal now handles half of all tickets, freeing two full-time staff from email triage. Automated procurement workflows speed approvals and improve control over purchasing. And Freddy Copilot streamlines ticket handling, summarizes issues, suggests next actions, and generates quick, accurate responses. “It was really about finding something easy to use and easy to build — and Freshservice has delivered exactly that,” says Dan Hollands.
The company
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust operates the largest single-site cancer hospital in Europe, serving around 60,000 patients annually and employing 4,000+ staff.
The challenge
Supporting a workforce of over 4,000 required a more robust ITSM than NHS Christie’s legacy tool plus two full-time staff to triage an inbox. But that’s how IT support operated, with clinicians and staff submitting requests by email, often with minimal detail, such as “my printer’s broken.” Procurement approvals, meanwhile, were a slow, manual process involving multiple systems and budget owners.
The system in place was overly complex, poorly controlled, and delivered little value. Data quality was low, limiting reporting and problem management. Automations were scarce, and making changes required external professional services.
When Dan Hollands joined as Digital Operations Lead, he was tasked with finding a modern, user-friendly ITSM tool the team could configure and evolve in-house. Although NHS England encouraged a review of ServiceNow, the team was concerned about long-term reliance on resources requiring consultants and specialists to maintain. They needed a platform that could deliver immediate value, empower existing staff to make changes, and scale to support continuous improvement.
The solution
After evaluating multiple options, NHS Christie selected Freshservice, powered by AWS, for its intuitive design, strong automation capabilities, and AI features with Freddy AI Copilot. The team adopted a “train-the-trainer” onboarding model, enabling key staff to configure workflows, build forms, and train others without external dependency.
Freddy AI Copilot has become an essential part of daily operations. Agents receive clear AI-generated summaries of incoming tickets, cutting through long or vague descriptions to surface the core issue instantly. Copilot suggests next-best actions based on past resolutions and drafts accurate, consistent replies in seconds. The self-service portal — supported by Copilot’s intelligent routing — replaced email as the default channel for incidents and service requests. Half of all tickets now arrive through the portal, improving data quality, speeding resolution, and freeing two full-time staff from triage duty.
“Freddy AI Copilot has been a game-changer,” says Dan Hollands. “It means our agents get straight to the point, resolve tickets faster, and spend more time on the work that makes a real difference.”
Procurement processes were also automated within Freshservice, with Freddy AI Copilot ensuring that requests are complete, correctly routed, and ready for immediate approval. This automation accelerates delivery of critical equipment while maintaining control over budgets.
“It was really about finding something easy to use and easy to build — and Freshservice has delivered exactly that,” says Dan Hollands. “And with Copilot, we’re moving even faster.”
Switching off email and moving to the Freshservice portal improved ticket quality and freed two full-time staff from triaging requests
Dan Hollands
Digital Operations Lead
Impact
With Freshservice and Freddy AI Copilot, NHS Christie has overhauled IT service delivery for its 4,000 staff. Half of all tickets now come through the self-service portal — up from zero at launch — dramatically improving quality and routing speed. The IT team handles around 6,000 tickets a month and has redeployed two full-time staff who previously triaged an overflowing email inbox. Procurement approvals, once slow and manual, are now automated and tracked within Freshservice, accelerating delivery of critical equipment. “We’ve been able to do so much ourselves with Freshservice, without needing costly external specialists,” says Dan Hollands. “It’s modern, user-friendly, and it just works for us.”