Most people with a long-term condition see their GP a handful of times a year. The condition, meanwhile, is present every single day — in the tablets taken at breakfast, the inhaler that may or may not be working properly, the repeat prescription that runs out on a bank holiday weekend, the side effect nobody thought to mention.
That gap between appointments is where a community pharmacy earns its place. At Qrystal Pharmacy on Borough High Street, a great deal of what we do is unglamorous continuity: knowing what you take, noticing when something has changed, and being open six days a week without an appointment.
This is a guide to what's actually available near London Bridge if you're managing a condition for the long haul — or caring for someone who is.
Why the months between appointments matter most
Long-term conditions are managed through medicines, and medicines only work if they're taken as intended. That sounds obvious; the evidence says otherwise. NHS data indicates that 30–50% of patients don't take newly prescribed medicines as intended within the first ten days — not through carelessness, but because of side effects nobody warned them about, unclear instructions, or a quiet decision that it isn't helping.
The other consistent failure point is drift. Medicines get added over years, rarely subtracted. Doses set during a hospital admission stay in place long after the reason has passed. Two prescribers, unaware of each other, prescribe things that interact. None of this shows up in a ten-minute GP appointment unless someone goes looking.
Going looking is a pharmacist's job.
The New Medicine Service — the most underused free service in pharmacy
If you've just been started on a medicine for a long-term condition, the New Medicine Service (NMS) gives you three structured consultations with a pharmacist, free on the NHS, with no GP referral required.
It runs like this:
- You collect your new prescription — here or delivered — and tell us you'd like the NMS. If your prescription qualifies, we'll usually offer it anyway.
- A first consultation, 7–14 days in. Ten to fifteen minutes on how it's going, what you've noticed, and anything you weren't told.
- A follow-up, 14–21 days later. Whether the early problems settled, whether anything needs raising with your GP, and what happens next.
Consultations happen in our private room or by phone, whichever suits. Records go securely to your GP.
The service covers a wide span of conditions, including:
- Asthma and COPD
- Type 2 diabetes
- High blood pressure and heart failure
- Atrial fibrillation and anticoagulant or antiplatelet therapy
- Stroke prevention and acute coronary syndrome
- Epilepsy, glaucoma, gout, and Parkinson's disease
- HRT and contraception
- Osteoporosis and overactive bladder
The first weeks on a new medicine are when most people quietly give up on it. That's precisely the window the NMS was designed to cover — and it costs nothing.
Medication reviews: what your pharmacist looks for
You don't need a formal appointment to have a pharmacist look over what you're taking. Bring your repeat list — or just come in and we'll pull it up — and ask.
What we're checking for:
- Interactions, including with over-the-counter medicines and supplements. St John's wort, ibuprofen, and some indigestion remedies cause more trouble than people expect.
- Duplication — two products doing the same job under different names, which happens easily after a hospital discharge.
- Timing and technique. Whether a medicine is being taken at the right time relative to food, and whether an inhaler or injection is actually being used correctly. Inhaler technique in particular deteriorates over years, and poor technique looks identical to poor control.
- Side effects you've stopped mentioning because you assumed they were unavoidable. Often they aren't.
- Things that could probably stop. A medicine started for a reason that no longer applies is a live risk, not a neutral one.
Where something needs changing, we contact your GP directly. You're not the messenger.
After a hospital stay — the highest-risk moment
If you've recently been discharged from Guy's, St Thomas', or anywhere else, your medicines have almost certainly changed. Something will have been started, something stopped, a dose adjusted. Discharge summaries take time to reach your GP, and repeat lists don't update themselves in the meantime.
This is the single most error-prone moment in long-term care, and it's easily managed if someone checks. Bring your discharge letter in and we'll go through it with you:
- What's new, what it's for, and how to take it
- What was stopped — and making sure it doesn't quietly reappear on your next repeat
- What changed dose, so the old strength doesn't keep being dispensed alongside the new one
- What you still have at home that's now wrong, and should be returned to us for safe disposal
Fifteen minutes here prevents a category of problem that is otherwise very hard to spot later. If you've just come out of hospital and something doesn't match what you were told, don't assume the paperwork is right — ask.
Making repeat prescriptions run themselves
The most common medicines-related crisis we see isn't dramatic — it's someone running out. Usually over a holiday, usually because a repeat request went in three days too late.
Two things fix it almost entirely:
Nominate us through the Electronic Prescription Service. Every prescription your GP issues then arrives with us electronically. No paper slips, no detour to the surgery. You can set it up by telling us, telling your GP reception, or doing it yourself in the NHS App — or nominate online here.
Use free local delivery. We deliver at no charge across Borough, Bermondsey, and the wider SE1 area. For anyone with mobility difficulties, caring responsibilities, or a job that doesn't bend, this is the difference between a system that works and one that depends on a good month.
Then order early in December and before any bank holiday weekend. That single habit prevents most of the emergencies.
Monitoring: blood pressure and beyond
Ongoing conditions need ongoing numbers.
Our free NHS blood pressure check takes about ten minutes, needs no appointment, and is open to adults aged 40 and over who haven't been checked in the last six months. We take up to three seated readings on a clinical-grade monitor, explain the result immediately, and — if it's raised — arrange 24-hour ambulatory monitoring so your GP gets a real picture rather than a single anxious snapshot. High blood pressure affects more than one in four UK adults and typically causes no symptoms at all, which is exactly why the check exists.
Alongside that we can help with weight and lifestyle through our weight management service, and support anyone trying to stop smoking through NHS smoking cessation — the single highest-value change available to most people with a respiratory or cardiovascular condition.
We're also building out private blood testing for people who want more frequent monitoring than the standard pathway offers. Ask us where that has got to.
For carers and family members
If you manage someone else's medicines — a parent, a partner, an adult child — say so. It changes what's useful to you. We can talk you through a regimen, explain what each item is for, flag what to watch for, set up delivery to their address, and be a consistent point of contact when something changes. Carers are also eligible for the NHS flu vaccine, which is routinely missed.
Where to find us
We're at 301 Borough High Street, London SE1 1JH.
- Borough Underground (Northern line): about 2 minutes' walk.
- London Bridge (Northern & Jubilee lines, National Rail): about 8 minutes' walk.
- Guy's Hospital: around 10 minutes on foot — useful if your care is split between hospital and GP.
- Borough Market and Southwark Cathedral: a few minutes away.
- Buses: frequent routes stop directly on Borough High Street.
Open Monday to Friday 9:00–18:30 and Saturday 9:00–14:00. More on what we offer locally: London Bridge and Bermondsey.
When something changes
Chronic doesn't mean static. Speak to your GP promptly — or call NHS 111 — if your usual symptoms worsen or change pattern, if a medicine stops seeming to work, or if you develop a new symptom you can't account for. For chest pain, severe breathlessness, or any rapid deterioration, call 999.
For same-day treatment of common acute problems — sore throat, sinusitis, shingles, an uncomplicated UTI — our Pharmacy First service can assess and treat without a GP appointment, which matters more when you're already managing something else.
Start with a conversation
- Call: 020 7403 2237
- Visit: 301 Borough High Street, London SE1 1JH
- Book a consultation for an NMS appointment or medication review
- Nominate us so your repeats arrive automatically
A conversation with a pharmacist is free and doesn't need booking. If you've been managing a condition for years and nobody has properly gone through your medicines in that time, that conversation is overdue — and it's a ten-minute walk from London Bridge.
