We are passionately interested in the importance of nursing values and believe that excellence in compassionate nursing care lies at the heart of nursing practice and that leadership is key to making this happen. Every nurse, whatever their position and role, has a vital leadership role to play in ensuring excellent care remains at the heart of nursing practice. From the preface Highly committed nurses often feel disillusioned, disempowered and angry when they are faced with negative media reports about poor standards of care. They are genuinely concerned, and want to address issues, when patients and clients feel they are not being cared for with compassion. However, complex and under-resourced healthcare environments pose many challenges. Developing ideas and initiatives from the highly successful Compassion and Caring in Nursing, in this new book Claire Chambers and Elaine Ryder focus on these potential difficulties and offers practitioners a chance to build on their current knowledge and experience, and consider ways to take the lead and act as catalysts for change. Each chapter focuses on a particular issue and case scenarios are used and revisited in each chapter, so that theory and practice are integrated throughout. Specific prompts encourage readers to bring about vital change in practice. All nurses, health visitors and health and social care practitioners should find this book motivating and realistic. It also offers thought-provoking inspiration for undergraduate and postgraduate healthcare students.