Pharmacies will not attract investment if their main source of income is based on dispensing free prescriptions, Mr Nahaboo posits.

Contractors need to diversify their offering and make it more “multidisciplinary” to attract private investors, he says.

They “have to take it on themselves, to disrupt themselves personally with their thinking, and be willing to actually go that much further down the line”.

Though there are pharmacies in the country that have been introducing new services “they're not making much noise” or “going far enough” and “they need that support and help” from private financial investment.

Pharmacies that seek and receive private funding will gain “the ability to serve the community in a far more productive way”, Mr Nahaboo states, instead of “clinging” to “the next good news that’s going to come from the NHS”.

They “should not be totally reliant on public funding”, he says. He wants to see businesses gradually reduce their reliance on the NHS, which will lead to “higher profit lines” down the line.

Private funding will enable them to integrate “new service lines” into their practice, spend more time with their patients, and “improve the welfare of their own business”.

“Why should the pharmacists not benefit and have that commercial opportunity to reinvest back in their business”, he asks, “so that they can actually bring [in] more quality and skilled labour to best serve their community?”

'Super pharmacy' CEO: Sector is 'screaming for private investment'

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