Background Locating social workers in hospital teams, or co-location, can improve relationships between professionals but at the expense of some professional values.

Aim This study examines the effect on communication of co-locating a social work team in a secure mental health service in Scotland.

Method Semi-structured qualitative interviews were undertaken with members of the social work team and a purposive sample of clinical staff. Data were analysed using NVivo software.

Findings The main themes identified were: the effect of co-location on informal relationships and communication; social and physical distance between nursing staff, social workers and other senior professionals; increasing levels of oversight and paperwork being less useful to staff.

Conclusion Co-location changed the understanding of the different roles that social workers perform in the team in which they are co-located, but did not change the understanding of ward-based nursing staff. The opportunity for informal discussions before meetings was highly valued by social workers and senior clinical staff, but was not available to ward nurses. Being removed from the daily activities that other social workers engage in is a barrier to future career development and may make moving on from hospital-based work a challenge.