Numark chief: Profit is not a 'dirty word'
Pharmacy’s mix of commercial and professional obligations puts it in a “great place” to deliver healthcare, says Numark managing director John D’Arcy
Pharmacists do not have to choose between being business people or healthcare professionals, Numark managing director John D'Arcy has said.
Profit was not "a dirty word" or incompatible with professionalism, Mr D'Arcy told the support group's conference in Argentina last week (March 10). He hit back at critics - often GPs - of community pharmacies' position as money-making businesses within the NHS.
In fact, there was not enough focus on efficiency or economy elsewhere in the health service, and the professional-commercial mix of pharmacy "puts us in a really great place", he said.
"Pharmacy is a business," Mr D'Arcy told Numark delegates in Buenos Aires. "That doesn't mean it's unprofessional, that doesn't mean it's not about healthcare. Profit is what's going to keep us here."
How do you balance running a business with being a health professional?
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