Healthcare delivery is changing, responding to needs of an ageing population with multiple long-term conditions. Safe and effective patient care in rheumatology should be delivered by a multi-professional team who understand how their roles fit individually and collectively within the team. This requires an understanding from healthcare educators and managers as to how to equip team members with the appropriate knowledge skills and behaviours, both as students and when working in clinical practice. Educational models exist that can facilitate this, and rheumatology teams in primary, community and secondary care provide an excellent opportunity to demonstrate effective team working and its impact on patient care through research and evaluation on health systems, and educational and patient outcomes.