People tend to assume NHS and private healthcare are separate worlds — that you pick one and stay in it. In community pharmacy that isn't how it works. Most patients use both in the same year, often in the same visit, usually without particularly noticing.
The practical question isn't "NHS or private?" It's "which route gets this specific thing done?" Here's how that breaks down at Qrystal Pharmacy, a short walk from London Bridge.
What's free on the NHS
More than most people realise, and none of it needs a GP referral:
- Pharmacy First — same-day assessment and treatment for seven common conditions, including antibiotics where clinically appropriate
- Blood pressure checks — for adults 40 and over, including 24-hour ambulatory monitoring where a reading is raised
- New Medicine Service — structured support when you start a medicine for a long-term condition
- Emergency contraception — free and confidential under the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service
- Seasonal vaccinations — flu and COVID for eligible groups
- Smoking cessation support
- Electronic prescriptions and dispensing, plus free local delivery across SE1
The NHS keeps its own summary of what pharmacies offer.
What's private, and why you'd choose it
Private services exist mostly to cover things the NHS either doesn't fund or doesn't fund for you specifically:
- Travel clinic — travel vaccinations, antimalarials, and Yellow Fever certification. Largely outside NHS provision.
- Weight management — structured, pharmacist-led support.
- Private flu vaccination — for adults who fall outside the NHS eligibility groups.
We're also developing private blood testing and allergy testing — both are marked as coming soon on their pages, so ask us where they've got to before planning around them.
The dividing line is usually eligibility, not quality
This is the point most people miss.
The same pharmacist, the same consultation room, and often the same vaccine sit on both sides of the line. What differs is whether the NHS funds it for you, and that turns on criteria set nationally:
- Age — the free blood pressure check is for adults 40 and over
- Clinical risk group — NHS flu and COVID eligibility follows JCVI guidance each year
- Condition and presentation — Pharmacy First covers seven specific conditions with defined criteria
Fall inside the criteria and it's free. Fall outside and the same thing may be available privately. A 35-year-old wanting a flu jab isn't getting an inferior product by paying for it — they're outside the funded group, that's all.
So the useful first question is always: am I eligible? Ask us and we'll tell you straight, including when the answer means you don't need to pay.
The two systems aren't sealed off from each other
Where they connect matters:
- Results and records flow back to your GP with your consent, whether the service was NHS or private. Your medical record stays joined up.
- A private result can inform NHS care. A privately obtained finding doesn't sit in a separate universe — it's clinical information your GP can act on.
- An NHS consultation can end in private advice, and vice versa. If you come in under Pharmacy First and the assessment points elsewhere, we say so regardless of which funding route brought you in.
- Neither replaces your GP. Both routes sit alongside general practice rather than instead of it.
Paying for private services
Kept simple:
- We accept cash, debit and credit cards, and contactless, alongside NHS-funded work.
- Payment is due at the point of service unless agreed otherwise in writing — see our terms.
- Costs vary by service. Travel consultations in particular depend on destination and which vaccines you need, so we quote on request rather than publishing a single figure. Call 020 7403 2237 with your details for a tailored quote.
- NHS prescription charges are separate from private fees, and many people are exempt. If you pay for several prescriptions a year, a prepayment certificate usually costs less — see the NHS guidance on prescriptions or ask us.
If you need a receipt for an employer scheme or any other reimbursement arrangement, ask at the time and we'll provide one.
How to choose, in practice
A short decision path:
- Ask whether it's NHS-funded for you. Start here every time. It's one question and it's often yes.
- If yes, use the NHS route. Same service, no charge.
- If no, ask what the private option involves — what it covers, what it costs, and what the alternative would be.
- If it's neither — too complex, or outside what a pharmacy does — we'll tell you where it does belong.
Find us
Qrystal Pharmacy, 301 Borough High Street, London SE1 1JH — about 8 minutes' walk from London Bridge station and 2 minutes from Borough Underground. Frequent buses stop directly outside.
Open Monday to Friday 9:00–18:30, Saturday 9:00–14:00.
- Call: 020 7403 2237
- Book online or walk in
- Get in touch to ask what applies to you
For urgent problems that aren't life-threatening, NHS 111 is free and available 24/7; for emergencies, call 999.
The flexible bit isn't a marketing claim — it's just that most people's health needs don't sort themselves neatly into one funding category, and they don't have to.
