Ensuring Teamwork and Collaboration for Healthcare Professionals

About this course

Almost all healthcare is delivered by teams. A single patient journey may involve paramedics, emergency staff, surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, GPs, social workers and many others, often across several organisations. When these people communicate well, trust each other and work towards shared goals, care is safer and staff are happier. When teamwork breaks down, patients are harmed: almost every major UK healthcare inquiry, from Bristol and Mid Staffordshire to East Kent, the national maternity investigation and the Thirlwall Inquiry, has identified poor teamworking, poor communication or a failure to listen as central to what went wrong.

This course explains what regulators expect of professionals as team members, what research tells us about effective teams, and how to use practical tools for communication, handover, briefing and speaking up. It covers multidisciplinary and cross-organisational working, partnership with patients and families, conflict, incivility, bullying and sexual safety, raising concerns about colleagues, and leading and sustaining effective teams. It reflects the latest UK developments, including the 2025 NHS Staff Survey, the closure of the National Guardian's Office, new employment law duties, Martha's Rule and the 2026 inquiry reports. It is suitable for routine CPD and for professionals asked to address concerns about their teamworking or communication with colleagues.

CPD Value and How to Record It:

This course is designed to provide approximately 2 hours of learning, including reading, the reflection points, the reflective account and the assessment. In the UK, CPD is generally recorded as the time actually spent learning, so you should record the time you genuinely spend, which may be more or less than the estimate.

How the course fits your revalidation or CPD requirements depends on your regulator. For example, the NMC asks nurses, midwives and nursing associates to record 35 hours of CPD over three years, of which at least 20 must be participatory; self-directed online learning such as this course usually counts as individual learning unless you complete it with others. The GMC expects doctors to reflect on CPD for appraisal and revalidation rather than setting a fixed number of hours. The HCPC, GDC, GPhC, GOC, GOsC and GCC each set their own CPD requirements, so check the current rules that apply to you. Always keep your certificate together with your written reflection.

What you will learn

• Explain the professional standards and legal duties that apply to teamwork in UK health and care.
• Describe the features of effective teams, including psychological safety and shared mental models.
• Use structured communication tools, briefings, handovers and graded assertiveness to improve safety.
• Collaborate effectively across professions, organisations and with patients and families.
• Recognise and respond to conflict, incivility, bullying, harassment and discrimination within teams.
• Raise concerns about colleagues appropriately and contribute to a supportive, well-led team.

Who this course is for

Doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, pharmacists, allied health professionals, physician assistants, healthcare support workers, social workers, team leaders and managers working in any UK health or care setting.

Social workers: this cross-profession course covers principles that apply across health and social care; most worked examples come from healthcare settings.

Course content

11 sections · 2 CPD hours · 15 MCQs

Course facts

CPD value

Approximately 2 hours of learning, including reflection and assessment

Format

Self-paced reading with team-based scenarios, communication tools, comparison tables, reflective prompts and a written reflective account

Standards covered

GMC Good medical practice (2024); NMC Code; HCPC, GDC, GPhC, GOC and Social Work England standards; Equality Act 2010, Worker Protection Act 2023 and Employment Rights Act 2025; Freedom to Speak Up; Martha's Rule; NHS sexual safety charter; findings of recent UK inquiries

Assessment

15 scenario-based multiple-choice questions; pass mark 12 out of 15 (80%)

Questions about this course