A talk by Sean Brennan. Sean started working in the NHS in the 1970’s, 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’s national Electronic Patient Record, then taking on policy roles in both English and Scottish Health Departments. In 2000 he joined a computer supplier and then launched Clinical Matrix Ltd, a consultancy company engaged in strategy development, business cases, and clinical change management.

Sean writes a monthly column ’Down at the EPR Arms’ for the British Journal of Healthcare Computing & Information Management, and his new book, "The NHS IT Project: the biggest computer programme in the world... ever!", was published in April 2005 It provides a comprehensive and highly accessible examination of the past, present and possible future of NHS Computing. The present £6.2 billion National Programme for IT, provides some interesting challenges and new models for public sector IT which Sean will explore.