Addressing the problems of managing health care is one of the most pressing and complex challenges facing western societies. In the UK the public are bombarded with negative press coverage of the National Health Service, which is often portrayed as in crisis. Hope Behind the Headlines aims to provide practical help, hope, energy and ideas about what is possible to improve health care by shifting the cultures to ones that are truly patient centred and orientated towards quality. Hope Behind the Headlines is a readable and accessible book that is packed full of learning, insights, research and experiences that will ensure leaders really understand what is required to shift cultures in theory and in practice. It will leave readers energised and hopeful about their own ability to make a difference in their own local health context. It includes chapters written by leaders in health care who have had a go at shifting culture in practice and who share their experiences, warts and all. These stories are powerful, empathetic, first-person narratives that are very different from sanitised case studies that often glorify what happened and make readers feel inadequate. A must-read for all those concerned with improving health care in the UK.