Improving communication in healthcare teams: why it matters most when things feel difficult
There is something slightly uncomfortable about talking about communication in healthcare.
Not because it is unimportant. It clearly is. It is just that it can feel obvious, almost overused as a concept. And yet, when things become pressured or uncertain, communication is often the first thing that starts to shift. Quietly, almost unnoticed at first.
Conversations become shorter. Feedback gets delayed. People hesitate, perhaps just a little, before raising something that feels minor.
And that is where it becomes more than a “nice to have”.
In fact, more than half of people, around 55%, say they have experienced poor communication from the NHS in recent years, and 1 in 10 say it directly affected their care . When you pause on that for a moment, it is quite telling. Communication is not sitting at the edges of care. It is shaping outcomes.
When pressure changes how teams communicate
Maternity and neonatal services are, in many places, working under sustained pressure. Expectations are high, workforce challenges persist, and the need to demonstrate learning and improvement is constant.
And within that, communication does something quite subtle.
It influences whether concerns are raised early or left until later.
It shapes how teams work together, especially across roles and shifts.
It affects how safe people feel to speak up.
We see this reflected in wider data too. Communication is one of the most common causes of complaints in the NHS, accounting for around 17% of all complaints . Not clinical error alone, but how information is shared, understood, or sometimes missed entirely.
And in maternity specifically, recurring reviews have highlighted poor communication and breakdowns in teamwork as contributing factors in underperformance and safety concerns .
So improving communication in healthcare teams is not just about clarity. It is about safety, trust, and how teams function under pressure.
Listening, not just asking
There is a difference between asking for input and really listening to it.
Most teams already have mechanisms in place. Surveys, meetings, informal conversations. But what happens afterwards is often where things become less clear.
If feedback is gathered but not visibly acted on, something begins to shift. Not dramatically, just gradually. Trust becomes a little more fragile. People share a little less.
Research into patient safety highlights that communication failures can directly contribute to harm, particularly when information is not shared effectively between professionals or with patients .
So listening is not just about collecting insight. It is about closing that loop. Showing that what has been said has led somewhere, even in small ways.
Everyday moments of improvement
Improvement is often framed as something structured. A project, a programme, something with a clear beginning and end.
But in reality, it tends to happen in smaller, quieter moments.
A conversation after a shift.
A reflection on something that felt slightly off.
A suggestion that might seem minor at first.
These moments are easy to overlook. Or postpone. We think we have all done that at some point.
But they are often where the most useful insight sits.
Improving communication in healthcare teams, particularly in maternity settings, often comes back to making these moments easier to capture and act on. Not perfectly. Not all at once. Just consistently.
When things feel difficult
There is, perhaps, a reason this conversation feels more relevant right now.
Recent reviews of maternity care continue to highlight gaps in communication, particularly in how concerns are heard and acted upon. In one national survey, nearly 1 in 5 women said their concerns were not taken seriously during childbirth .
That is not just about information. It is about how people feel in moments that are already uncertain.
Communication becomes something more human here.
It is reassurance.
It is clarity.
It is trust, or sometimes the absence of it.
A space to reflect and learn
This is exactly what we will be exploring in our upcoming webinar:
It is intended to be practical. Grounded in real experience. Not overly polished or theoretical.
We will hear from Lara Mott, Founder of ImproveWell, alongside Emma Chambers, Director of Midwifery at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. Between them, there is both a system wide perspective and a lived understanding of what this looks like day to day.
Together, we will explore:
- Why communication becomes more important during pressured periods
- How to support staff voice in a way that feels meaningful
- Practical ways to strengthen learning and improvement
- Real examples from maternity services
It is not really about finding perfect answers. It is more about creating space for honest reflection, and perhaps recognising things that already feel familiar.
Join the conversation
If you are working within maternity or neonatal services, or supporting teams in any capacity, this may be a useful moment to pause and reflect.
Because improving communication in healthcare teams is rarely a single intervention. It is something that builds over time, through everyday interactions, small adjustments, and a willingness to listen.
And sometimes, it simply starts with asking how things are really going.
👉 Reserve your place on the webinar and join the conversation
