Customers’ interest in understanding their health gives community pharmacies room to develop both self-testing sales and clinical services. However, the commercial opportunity for your pharmacy largely depends on how well those two parts of your offer work together, and what customers believe they are paying for.
The National Pharmacy Association’s (NPA) 2025 consumer research found strong interest in pharmacy-based screening, blood tests and consultations. Over half of patients were open to paying for additional services, but the same research revealed concerns about charges for core healthcare, particularly where payment might restrict access.
There is demand to develop, but willingness to pay cannot be assumed across every product or service. Your pharmacy needs an offer that customers can readily understand.
Self-Testing Can Become Part Of A Wider Healthcare Relationship
A self-test gives someone information they can obtain privately, at a time they choose. Buying it through your pharmacy also gives them access to professional advice about whether it addresses their concern and what the result means.
That professional input can influence the purchase decision before the test is taken. For example, a customer may know which health issue they want to investigate without knowing which measurement would answer their question. Your team can help establish whether a particular test provides relevant information, whether timing affects its use or whether an assessment would be more appropriate.
This gives self-testing a role within your clinical offering. Purchasing a self test can introduce new customers to expertise and services they have not previously used, while giving existing patients another reason to obtain their pharmacy health products from you.
Paid Products And NHS Services Need A Clear Relationship
The expansion of commissioned pharmacy services makes this relationship especially relevant. NHS England’s community pharmacy blood-pressure service, for example, provides clinic checks and ambulatory monitoring for eligible people. A home monitor has a different role, allowing someone to take repeated measurements themselves.
Both can belong within your offer. The commercial judgement involves identifying where a home product supports someone’s continuing care and where a commissioned assessment already provides what they need.
The NPA findings suggest that customers will distinguish between paying for additional choice and being charged for care they expect the NHS to provide. Explaining what a purchase or private service adds is therefore central to its appeal. That might be access to a particular test at home, a booked assessment or professional review, depending on what your pharmacy provides.
Professional Input Belongs In The Business Model
A self-testing category can generate several kinds of work, from supplying the product and explaining its use, to assessing symptoms and reviewing results. Those activities make different demands on your team.
For an owner, the question is how much professional input the offer includes and how that time is funded. A product margin may support routine purchasing advice, while a more involved clinical assessment needs its own provision within the business.
Defining that scope helps you decide which categories fit your pharmacy’s ambitions. You may, for instance, want a retail range supported by product advice, a structured private testing service, or a combination of the two. Each can serve health-conscious customers, provided the service is clearly described and the economics support the professional time involved.
Develop Your Self-Testing Offer With Suresign
Our Suresign range includes pregnancy, fertility and general health self-tests alongside monitoring equipment. Click here to discuss the categories you want to develop within your pharmacy.
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