ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that Mrs Edith Korner's insight and initiative still have relevance for the National Health Service (NHS) and to all those involved with the modernisation agenda. The challenge facing Mrs Korner was to convince a wide range of stakeholders that changes were needed, and to give clear guidance on how things needed to change. The chapter considers what the world was like in 1980 when the Secretary of State for Social Services set up the NHS/Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) Steering Group on Health Services Information. Many of Mrs Korner's critics have accused her of bequeathing the NHS an inflexible legacy, the Korner returns. Appraisals of Korner's work fall into three distinct categories, namely: those that see her as helping to liberate health information services; those that deplore the Korner legacy; and those that view her as a mixed blessing.
