Ashley and Nikki Cohen – co-owners of Pharm-Assist (Healthcare) Ltd – have taken sole ownership of Priory Pharmacy in York, having previously co-managed it with GP partners for the last 14 years.

A seven-figure funding deal from Unity Trust Bank allowed Mr and Ms Cohen to both buy the new pharmacy and “refinance our whole group” to enable it to work under one ownership structure, Mr Cohen explained.

The pharmacy, which sits within Priory Medical Centre – one of nine GP surgeries owned by Priory Medical – dispenses around 18,000 items a month, Mr Cohen told C+D yesterday (November 24).

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Its acquisition brings the group’s portfolio up to three branches, in addition to Halton Pharmacy and Seacroft Pharmacy in Leeds.

Established in 2006, Pharm-Assist (Healthcare) Ltd now employs more than 60 members of staff and has NHS and private contracts with care homes, a hospice, a young offenders institute and an alcohol rehabilitation centre.

It also created a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination service at its branches in Leeds earlier this year, alongside two other stand-alone vaccination clinics across Leeds and York.

“Scale offers efficiencies”

Mr Cohen told C+D that having worked in the pharmacy as a shareholder and director, he already “knew it back to front”.

As a “high volume dispensing pharmacy” buying Priory Pharmacy also provided an opportunity to be “more efficient in terms of my delivery capabilities”, he added.

“Scale is good. Scale offers efficiencies.”

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Meanwhile, Unity Trust Bank relationship manager, Michael Wicks, revealed the bank is “delighted to assist Ashley and Nikki in their latest acquisition”.