OBJECTIVES: Effective delivery of clinical care for women during pregnancy and the perinatal period is contingent on collaborative and supportive multidisciplinary team working. The current study reports the development of a short measure of effective and supportive team working within the context of maternity care services.  The psychometric properties of the developed tool are decribed.  METHODS: The tool was developed as an intrinsic component part of a staff survey reviewing maternity services in England, UK.  Final item inclusion in the developed measure was determined by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).  Discriminate validity testing was conducted using analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine discriminate validity using health worker classification as the independent variable. RESULTS: A total of 1701 questionnaires selected by random sampling were subjected to EFA.  Following  maximum-likelihood extraction and oblimin rotation, two correlated factors were identified.  These two sub-scales were labelled compliance and influence (4 items), and support and communication (6 items).  The veracity of the factor structure and sub-scale differentiation was supported by CFA conducted on a further 1701 questionnaires.  Discriminate validity was demonstrated on the total scale and both sub-scales (all p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The 10-item Working in Healthcare Questionnaire (WHQ-10) is a valid and reliable self-report instrument that assesses the important dimensions of staff collaboration and cohesion.  The sub-scales of the instrument are sensitive to staff structure and clinical discipline of the practitioner and facilitates a useful measure to facilitate understanding of the dynamic processes of staff interaction within the clinical environment.