Midwives work closely with obstetric and GP colleagues to deliver maternity care for women, and increasingly with maternity support workers/maternity care assistants, health visitors/public health practitioners, social care colleagues and specialist workers to respond to the complex health and social needs of some women and their families. Crucial to the success of such partnership working is timely and effective communication. Poor communication and ineffective team working have been found to be underlying causes of substandard care, in particular a failure to share important information between professionals including GPs, the maternity team and social services5. Good communication is fundamental to multidisciplinary working and it is imperative that each member of the.
