Martin McKee CBE is Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, research director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, and Past President of the European Public Health Association. His contributions have been recognised by election to the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, Academia Europeae, and the US National Academy of Medicine, and by six honorary doctorates. He was awarded the 2003 Andrija Stampar medal, the 2014 Alwyn Smith Prize, and the 2015 Donabedian International Award. Sherry Merkur is a Research Fellow and Health Policy Analyst at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, based at the London School of Economics. She is Editor-in-Chief of Eurohealth and author and editor of HiT: Health system reviews for countries in the European Region and Promoting Health, Preventing Disease: The Economic Case (2015). With Ellen Nolte and Anders Anell, she is co-Editor of Achieving Person-centred Health Systems (Cambridge, 2020). Nigel Edwards is Chief Executive at The Nuffield Trust, a research and policy foundation based in London.  Prior to this he was a senior fellow at the King's Fund and the Policy Director of the NHS Confederation. He is honorary visiting professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and was awarded an honorary DSc by the University of Westminster.  Ellen Nolte is Professor of Health Services and Systems Research at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Her expertise is in health systems research, international health care comparisons and performance assessment. She has published widely on health systems, integrated care, European health policy and population health assessments. She is co-Editor of the Journal of Health Services Research & Policy. With Anders Anell and Sherry Merkur, she is editor of Achieving Person-centred Health Systems (Cambridge, 2020).

• Part I: 1. Introduction: The changing nature of care provided in the hospital Martin McKee, Sherry Merkur, Nigel Edwards and Ellen Nolte; 2. The challenges of adapting hospital care for children Jochen Ehrich, Massimo Pettoello-Mantovan, Eleanor Molloy, Reinhold Kerbl, Mehmet Vural, Simon Lenton, Stefano del Torso, Adamos Hadjipanayis, Björn Wettergren and Zachi Grossman; 3. Patients with stroke Benjamin Bray, Anthony Rudd, Phil White, Bo Norrving and Charles Wolfe; 4. Meeting the needs of frail older patients Sherena Nair, David Oliver and Alison Cracknell; 5. Oncological hospital care Anke Wind, Wim van Harten, Sigbjørn Smeland, Lucia da Pieve and Wim Groen; Part II: 6. COPD as an exemplar of a chronic health condition C. Michael Roberts, Jose Luis Lopez-Campos and Robab Breyer-Kohansal; 7. Emergency medicine Matthew Cooke, Clifford Mann and Nigel Edwards; 8. Advances in perioperative medicine Marc Wittenberg, Harry Thirkettle and Michael Grocott; 9. Advances in imaging Peter Cavanagh; 10. Advances in laboratory medicine Rachael Liebmann and Digby Ingle; 11. Conclusions: Challenges for hospitals of the future Martin McKee, Sherry Merkur, Nigel Edwards and Ellen Nolte.

The changing role of the hospital in European health systems gives an accurate picture of the changes taking place. Particularly well illustrated by key fields of transformation, it helps the reader clarify the complex landscape of hospital care. Pascal Garel, Chief Executive, European Hospital and Healthcare Federation (hope)