Multi‐skilled health carers: nature, purpose and implications

Multi‐skilling has been the most enduring element of patient‐focused care in the UK. A recent report from the Manchester University Health Service Management Unit (HSMU) extended the multi‐skilling debate and offered a framework for changing National Health Service workforce policy along multi‐skilling lines. Examines the main HSMU issues in the light of broader empirical and other evidence. Assesses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to multi‐skilling. Concludes that multi‐skilling protagonists still face a number of challenges.