We work in an increasingly pressurised and bureaucratic environment, with little pause for thought, and tend to accept this state as normal. The risk, and sadly the reality—as the Francis Inquiry Report into the Mid Staffordshire (UK) NHS Foundation Trust1 showed—is that this environment can contribute to disaffected medical staff and poor patient care.

At a time when morale across the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) workforce is low, Tan and colleagues2 in this issue highlight the benefits of setting aside time for structured team discussion. They outline the practicalities of moral case deliberation and provide an example of this process that encourages shared decision-making. It also encourages the realisation that although there is often no ‘right’ answer, there may be a ‘best’ solution to a …