The Power of Connection in the NHS
Building the conditions for better staff engagement and better patient care
The NHS has always depended on people working well together. But as pressure on services continues to grow, maintaining strong relationships, effective teamwork and open communication has become increasingly difficult.
The latest NHS Staff Survey paints a clear picture:
- 53% of staff experience strained relationships at work at least some of the time.
- Only 53.7% believe different teams within their organisation work well together to achieve organisational objectives.
- 42.4% have felt unwell because of work-related stress in the last 12 months.
- The NHS Compassionate Culture score has fallen below 7/10 for the first time since 2022.
For most organisatons improving connection can drive productivity, innovation and performance. But in healthcare, better-connected teams can also save lives.
Over more than two decades, organisational psychologist Professor Michael West explored the relationship between NHS employee experience, staff engagement and patient outcomes. His research consistently found that organisations with more engaged staff achieved lower patient mortality, lower rates of healthcare-associated infection, and higher levels of patient satisfaction.
His conclusion was clear: The experience of NHS staff and the experience of patients are intrinsically linked.
He argued that high-quality care is not simply delivered by talented individuals. It is delivered by teams who communicate well, trust one another, and feel connected to a shared purpose.
Perhaps West’s most influential contribution came in The Courage of Compassion (2020), where he identified three fundamental psychological needs that enable nurses and midwives to flourish at work:
- Autonomy – having influence over your work.
- Belonging – feeling connected, valued, respected and supported.
- Contribution – knowing your work makes a meaningful difference.
West describes belonging as “the need to be connected to, cared for, and caring for others around them at work, and to feel valued, respected and supported.”
When we first came across this definition, it immediately resonated with us – as we define Workplace Connection as “how much colleagues see, hear, value and trust each other.”
We realised we were describing the same experience from two different perspectives.
If ‘belonging’ helps to create engagement, then one of the most practical questions NHS leaders can ask is:
How do we help our people feel they belong?
We believe the answer lies in strengthening the quality of everyday human connection within and between teams.
That’s why our Power of Connection keynote and workshop focuses on three simple shifts, all designed to effectively improve connection:
1. Defining connection
Creating a shared understanding of what human connection looks like in everyday practice, so teams have a common language and a shared goal.
2. Building knowledge
Understanding the neuroscience of connection – why pressure changes the way we think, communicate and collaborate, and how practical tools can help us have more honest, productive conversations.
3. Embedding connection rituals
Introducing small, repeatable behaviours that strengthen trust, belonging and teamwork over time. No big HR initiatives, just regular, sustainable team habits.
Michael West’s research suggests that healthier, more engaged teams create the conditions for better patient care.
At Connection Heroes, our strength is in helping NHS teams turn that evidence into everyday practice by strengthening the quality of human connection between colleagues.
If you’re in an HR, OD or Service Lead role in the NHS, and you’re looking for practical ways to strengthen engagement, collaboration and belonging within and across your teams, we’d love to chat and share more of the critical research and practical skills and tools that can help your build a culture of connection that’s good for people, performance and patient outcomes.
