A HUDDERSFIELD expert has won praise for his book explaining a huge project to transform the NHS with new technology.

Sean Brennan tells how he believes computerisation will make the health service better - despite several false starts.

But clinicians and doctors will have to change their ways of working to take advantage of the new systems, he says.

A massive £6bn-plus is being spent to computerise the NHS in England over 10 years.

Mr Brennan explains the changes in his book The NHS IT Project: The Biggest Computer Project in the World ... Ever.

It includes an overview of NHS IT strategies over the last 30 years and places them within the wider political and social changes which have taken place.

The reader is introduced to the layers of computing that will fit together to create a single patient record.

Patient security and confidentiality are discussed, along with practical issues.

The book describes the complexities through a number of stories based around a fictional Yorkshireman called Jimmy Rawcliffe.

Mr Brennan started working in the NHS in the 1970s, originally as a medical laboratory scientific officer before becoming an information manager.

In 1993 he was seconded to the Department of Health and became the project manager for the NHS national electronic patient record.

In 2000 he joined a computer supplier and then launched consultancy company Clinical Matrix.

His book costs £29.95 and is published by Radcliffe Medical Press.