Mr Koziol (pictured), who was joined during a panel discussion by Company Chemists' Association chief executive Malcolm Harrison, National Pharmacy Association vice-chair Nick Kaye and Royal Pharmaceutical Society chief executive Paul Bennett, said the decades-old debate on supervision now needed to be conducted in terms of what he described as a high street "health centre" and "clinical team" approach.

"You absolutely need to have that professional person, that pharmacist in the pharmacy... the notion that a pharmacist may not be available or will not be there or will be locked up in the consultation room is just not appropriate at all. But this particular stage, having the discussion about supervision now is actually an obstacle that's in the way," he said.

One delegate said the key to supervision is securing "serious" funding to upskill the team and insisted there was only so much contractors can do through ‘goodwill.’ Mr Bennett said a "robust workforce plan" was needed.

He also threatened to reopen the recent public spat between the PDA and CCA around the reasons for temporary pharmacy closures by suggesting pharmacies "up and down the UK" were closing because of "profit-led decisions" rather than workforce shortages, as has been claimed by employer bodies.

That prompted Mr Harrison, who agreed with Mr Koziol that any supervision changes should not have unintended consequences, to pointedly insist he ‘doesn’t recognise’ the unintended consequences suggested by the latter.