Do patients want to participate in treatment decisions? What is the best way to determine the views of health service users? What can governments do to engage citizens in setting priorities? What factors influence the demand for health care?Health Expectations aims to promote critical thinking and informed debate about all aspects of public participation in health care and health policy, including: involvement of patients and their advocates in decisions about individual health care; involvement of health service users and their representatives in aspects of service design, delivery and evaluation; involvement of the general public in debates about health care policy.