Healthcare can feel like a set of separate buildings. You see your GP in one, get scanned at Guy's in another and pick up your medicines somewhere else, and it's easy to assume none of them talk to each other.
In practice there are more links than most people realise. Your GP practice can send you to a pharmacy for treatment. The hospital can tell your pharmacy what changed on the ward. The pharmacy can send results back to your GP. When those links work, you repeat yourself less, mistakes get caught, and nothing falls between the gaps.
This guide explains the NHS connections between a community pharmacy, GP practices and hospitals in SE1, and the few things you can do to make them work for you. Qrystal Pharmacy is an independent pharmacy at 301 Borough High Street, a couple of minutes from Borough station and about ten minutes' walk from Guy's Hospital.
Routes into the pharmacy
Referred by your GP practice or NHS 111
If you ring your GP practice or NHS 111 with a sore throat, earache or a suspected UTI, you may be told the pharmacy can see you instead. That's NHS Pharmacy First. The practice or 111 sends us an electronic referral, so we already have your details when you arrive.
Pharmacy First covers seven conditions: sinusitis, sore throat, earache in children, infected insect bites, impetigo, shingles and uncomplicated UTIs in women. Our pharmacists can assess them and, where it's appropriate, supply prescription-only treatment free under the NHS. You can also walk in without a referral. Our Pharmacy First page has the detail.
Prescriptions from your GP
Most NHS prescriptions in England are now electronic. Through the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS), your GP sends prescriptions to the pharmacy you've nominated, with no paper involved. Our guide to NHS prescription collection at 301 Borough High Street covers how nomination and repeat prescriptions work in practice.
Leaving hospital: the Discharge Medicines Service
This is the link people most often don't know about. Hospital stays are when medicines change most: a new tablet started, a dose cut, something stopped because it caused a problem. If those changes don't reach the community, the old prescription can simply carry on.
The Discharge Medicines Service (DMS) exists to stop that. It is an NHS service that every community pharmacy in England must provide. When you're discharged, the hospital team can send a referral to your pharmacy with your medicine changes. We then:
- Compare the medicines you left hospital with against what you were taking before.
- Check your first prescription after discharge to make sure the changes have been carried through, and contact the GP practice if something doesn't match.
- Talk it through with you, in person or by phone, so you know what's changed and why.
You don't need to ask for DMS. But it only works if the hospital knows which pharmacy you use, so tell the ward staff your pharmacy's name before you're discharged.
Starting a new long-term medicine
When a GP or hospital starts you on a new medicine for certain long-term conditions, including high blood pressure, asthma, COPD, type 2 diabetes and blood thinners, you're usually eligible for the New Medicine Service. It's a free series of short conversations with a pharmacist over the first few weeks, to catch side effects and problems early. Patients often only mention a problem with a new medicine when someone asks.
Routes back to your GP
Consultation summaries
When we treat you under Pharmacy First, we send a summary to your GP practice electronically, with your consent. Your record shows what you were seen for and what you were given, so the next clinician you see isn't working blind.
Blood pressure results
Our free NHS blood pressure check for adults aged 40 and over is designed to find people with high blood pressure who don't know they have it. If your reading is raised, we can arrange a 24-hour ambulatory (ABPM) check, and the results go to your GP, who can confirm a diagnosis and start treatment.
That loop matters locally. NHS data shows 11.0% of patients registered with Southwark GP practices have a recorded diagnosis of high blood pressure, against 15.2% across England (QOF 2024/25). Part of that gap is Southwark's young population. But it also means that, in an area with many people who rarely see a GP, raised blood pressure can go unrecorded for years. Our guide to blood pressure management in SE1 covers what happens after a diagnosis.
Private services
If you use a private service with us, such as weight management or travel vaccines, we share the outcome with your GP only if you agree, and we recommend it when it affects your other medicines. Our guide to NHS and private healthcare near London Bridge explains how the two routes fit together.
Routes onward
Part of a pharmacist's job is knowing when a problem belongs somewhere else, and saying so clearly. Depending on what we find, we might send you to:
- Your GP practice, for anything outside what a pharmacy can safely manage, or that needs tests, a specialist referral or ongoing monitoring
- NHS 111, out of hours, or when you need help to find the right urgent service
- An urgent treatment centre or A&E, the same day, if something is more serious than it first looked
- 999, for anything life-threatening
- Specialist services, such as a local sexual health clinic for a copper coil as emergency contraception
What a pharmacist usually can't do is refer you straight to a hospital specialist. In the NHS, that normally goes through your GP. If we think you need a specialist, we'll say so and explain how to ask your GP for the referral.
For a plain guide to choosing between 999, A&E, 111 and the pharmacy, see our guide to emergency healthcare near Borough.
What we can see, and what we can't
With your permission, our pharmacists can view your Summary Care Record. It's a short extract from your GP record that includes your current medicines and allergies. We use it to check that a treatment is safe for you, especially if you can't remember the name of a tablet or what you reacted to last time.
We can't see your full GP record, hospital letters or test results unless you share them. So if you've had a recent hospital stay or new diagnosis, bring the discharge letter or a list of your medicines. It makes the consultation quicker and safer.
Care homes
One link runs the other way. We work with care homes in London to manage residents' medicines, liaising with each resident's GP practice to keep prescriptions, dosage changes and reviews in step. If you manage a care home, our care home service explains how it works.
Making the links work for you
Most of these connections run in the background. A few habits make sure they actually reach you:
- Nominate one pharmacy for your NHS prescriptions, so your history is in one place. Nominate Qrystal in a minute.
- Tell the hospital which pharmacy you use if you're admitted, so discharge information can follow you.
- Keep an up-to-date list of your medicines and allergies on your phone.
- Say yes to sharing summaries with your GP unless you have a reason not to. Joined-up records prevent errors.
- Mention changes. If a consultant or another clinic has changed something, tell us when you collect.
Near Guy's, Borough and London Bridge
Borough has an unusual mix of patients. We're a short walk from Guy's, one of the country's busiest hospital campuses, and from St Thomas' across the river. Many people round here have hospital appointments, specialist medicines and a GP practice that may be miles away near their home rather than their office. That's exactly when the links between pharmacy, GP and hospital matter most.
If you work nearby and are registered with a GP elsewhere, you can still nominate us, use Pharmacy First, and have summaries sent to your own practice. Our guide for Guy's Hospital visitors and staff has more on fitting healthcare around hospital visits and shifts, and our guide to managing long-term conditions in SE1 covers support for people on several medicines.
Find us
- Borough Underground (Northern line): about 2 minutes' walk
- London Bridge (Northern & Jubilee lines, National Rail): about 8 minutes
- Guy's Hospital, Borough Market and Southwark Cathedral: all within about ten minutes
- Buses: frequent routes stop directly outside
Qrystal Pharmacy, 301 Borough High Street, London SE1 1JH. Open Monday to Friday 9:00–18:30 and Saturday 9:00–14:00.
- Walk in for Pharmacy First and blood pressure checks
- Call 020 7403 2237 with questions about your medicines or a recent hospital stay
- Book a consultation if you'd rather hold a slot
Your GP, the hospital and your pharmacy each see part of the picture. The more of it they can share, the safer your care is.
