Gildhart research November 2026

Who AI RecommendsUK Private Healthcare 2026

Ask ChatGPT where to get a flu jab in your town. Is your practice in the answer?

We asked 480 times across 12 UK places and checked every clinic it named. 36 answers named a real local independent. One pharmacy kept coming up. The report shows what it did differently.

Get the free report See what AI said

ChatGPTasked from Llanelli · 8 Nov 2026

Best pharmacy for a flu vaccination in Llanelli

  1. Boots Pharmacy – Llanelli town centreChain
  2. Well Pharmacy – LlanelliChain
  3. Local independent pharmaciesNo name given

My recommendation: Boots Llanelli

Llanelli’s independents: named in 0 of 40 answers. Four of the 12 places got the same result.

The full report. 16 pages, free.Every finding, every clinic we checked, and the six things the named pharmacy did.
  • 36of 480answers named a real, local, independent pharmacy or clinic
  • 14of 54local clinics AI recommended don’t appear to exist
  • 10of 12answers named Chislehurst Pharmacy, a Gildhart client, for the services it offers

01

Chains own the answer, for now.

Boots was named in 68% of answers. A chain was the first name in 74%. AI has read about them for years: a head start, not a lock.

“Independent pharmacies in areas like Moseley, Sutton Coldfield and Harborne sometimes offer travel vaccinations too.”

Claude, asked about travel jabs in Birmingham. 233 answers said “try an independent”. 15 named a real one.
Boots in 68% of answers. The most-named independent, in 2%.
BootsChainBoots: named in 324 of 480 answers68%SuperdrugChainSuperdrug: named in 235 of 480 answers49%Superdrug Online DoctorOnlineSuperdrug Online Doctor: named in 92 of 480 answers19%SpecsaversChainSpecsavers: named in 92 of 480 answers19%MedichecksOnlineMedichecks: named in 90 of 480 answers19%Randox HealthPrivate groupRandox Health: named in 85 of 480 answers18%Boots HearingcareChainBoots Hearingcare: named in 81 of 480 answers17%Nuffield HealthPrivate groupNuffield Health: named in 80 of 480 answers17%Boots Online DoctorOnlineBoots Online Doctor: named in 73 of 480 answers15%LloydsPharmacyChain, no high-street branches since 2023LloydsPharmacy: named in 67 of 480 answers14%Chislehurst PharmacyIndependent · Gildhart clientChislehurst Pharmacy: named in 10 of 480 answers2%
BootsChain68%SuperdrugChain49%Superdrug Online DoctorOnline19%SpecsaversChain19%MedichecksOnline19%Randox HealthPrivate group18%Boots HearingcareChain17%Nuffield HealthPrivate group17%Boots Online DoctorOnline15%LloydsPharmacyChain · sold 202314%Chislehurst PharmacyIndependent · our client2%

Share of 480 answers naming each provider · Gildhart AI search study, 8 November 2026

chislehurstpharmacygroup.co.uk The Chislehurst Pharmacy website, built by Gildhart

10 of 12ChatGPT answers named it

The one AI keeps naming

Chislehurst Pharmacy

6 of 10 of those answers named it before Boots

  • Two branches in south-east London. No other independent in the study came close: the next most-named appeared in 5 answers.
  • Built by Gildhart: a page for each service across both branches, each written to be quoted.
  • Two cautions, kept on purpose. Claude named it in none of its 20 answers, and one town can’t prove cause.
See The Build Visit the site

02

Outside London, the local place in the answer is empty.

In four of the 12 places, AI never named a real independent. The first one it learns to trust there has the place to itself.

Outside London and Chislehurst, a real local independent was named in 3% of answers
Other 10 places: 3% (13 of 400)LondonCityLondon: 12 of 40 answers30% (12 of 40)ChislehurstTown · includes our clientChislehurst: 11 of 40 answers28% (11 of 40)Stratford-upon-AvonTownStratford-upon-Avon: 5 of 40 answers13% (5 of 40)ManchesterCityManchester: 3 of 40 answers8% (3 of 40)CardiffCityCardiff: 2 of 40 answers5% (2 of 40)GlasgowCityGlasgow: 1 of 40 answers3% (1 of 40)BelfastCityBelfast: 1 of 40 answers3% (1 of 40)PaisleyTownPaisley: 1 of 40 answers3% (1 of 40)BirminghamCityNone of 40EpsomTownNone of 40Lytham St AnnesTownNone of 40LlanelliTownNone of 40
Dashed line: the other 10 places, 3%London30% (12 of 40)Chislehurst28% (11 of 40)Stratford-upon-Avon13% (5 of 40)Manchester8% (3 of 40)Cardiff5% (2 of 40)Glasgow3% (1 of 40)Belfast3% (1 of 40)Paisley3% (1 of 40)BirminghamNone of 40EpsomNone of 40Lytham St AnnesNone of 40LlanelliNone of 40

Out of 40 answers per place, 20 from ChatGPT and 20 from Claude · each named independent checked by web search

03

Flu jabs, ear wax and travel go to the chains. Weight loss goes online.

Each is a service an independent can describe, price and publish this month.

Who gets named, service by service
Local independentChainOnline-onlyPrivate groupNHSReal local independent namedPrivate flu jabPrivate flu jab: Local independent 3.1% of providers namedPrivate flu jab: Chain 92.4% of providers named92%Private flu jab: Online-only 0.8% of providers namedPrivate flu jab: Private group 3.1% of providers namedPrivate flu jab: NHS 0.5% of providers named6 of 96 answers6%Ear wax removalEar wax removal: Local independent 7.5% of providers namedEar wax removal: Chain 91.2% of providers named91%Ear wax removal: Online-only 0.3% of providers namedEar wax removal: NHS 1% of providers named9 of 96 answers9%Travel vaccinationsTravel vaccinations: Local independent 5.7% of providers namedTravel vaccinations: Chain 85.4% of providers named85%Travel vaccinations: Online-only 0.6% of providers namedTravel vaccinations: Private group 0.6% of providers namedTravel vaccinations: NHS 7.6% of providers named8 of 96 answers8%Weight lossWeight loss: Local independent 3% of providers namedWeight loss: Chain 22.1% of providers named22%Weight loss: Online-only 58.1% of providers named58%Weight loss: Private group 8% of providers namedWeight loss: NHS 8.9% of providers named9 of 96 answers9%Private blood testsPrivate blood tests: Local independent 4% of providers namedPrivate blood tests: Chain 16.8% of providers named17%Private blood tests: Online-only 28.7% of providers named29%Private blood tests: Private group 48.2% of providers named48%Private blood tests: NHS 2.3% of providers named4 of 96 answers4%
Local independentChainOnline-onlyPrivate groupNHSPrivate flu jab92%Real local independent named in 6 of 96 answers (6%)Ear wax removal91%Real local independent named in 9 of 96 answers (9%)Travel vaccinations85%Real local independent named in 8 of 96 answers (8%)Weight loss22%58%Real local independent named in 9 of 96 answers (9%)Private blood tests17%29%48%Real local independent named in 4 of 96 answers (4%)

Share of providers named for each service, 96 answers per service · the counts of real independents are checked one by one

In the full report

Four more findings, and every clinic we checked.

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  • 14 of 54The local clinics AI recommended that don’t exist, by name: “Epsom Pharmacy”, “Cardiff Private Clinic”, “Belfast Travel Clinic”.
  • 55 of 67Answers still sending patients to LloydsPharmacy branches, sold in 2023. Why AI is out of date, and why that helps you.
  • 3 of 120Price questions that named a real independent. The one question type that shuts independents out, and the fix.
  • 5×ChatGPT names real independents five times as often as Claude. What each AI does with the same question.

Plus the 20 questions we asked, and all 55 named independents with what we found for each.

The full report · 16 pages · free

Find out before the practice down the road does.

  • Who AI names for your services, and in what order
  • The four ways patients ask, and the one that shuts independents out
  • The six things the named pharmacy did, so you can do them

The PDF opens straight away and we email you the link. Occasional Gildhart research after that; unsubscribe any time. Privacy.

How Gildhart gets independents into the answer

Be the name AI gives, not the category.

How we ran the study

We asked ChatGPT and Claude 240 questions each, as a member of the public in each place, on 8 November 2026: 480 answers.

  • 12 places. Six cities (London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast) and six market towns (Epsom, Chislehurst, Lytham St Annes, Stratford-upon-Avon, Llanelli, Paisley).
  • 5 private services. Travel vaccinations, weight loss treatment, ear wax removal, private blood tests and a private flu jab.
  • 4 ways of asking. A direct question, a request for the best, a situation, and a price question.
  • 2 AIs. ChatGPT’s current chat model and Claude Sonnet 5.5, through their makers’ APIs, with the same answer length.

Counting and checking. We pulled every provider named and sorted each into chain, online-only, private group, NHS or independent (a locally owned pharmacy or clinic with up to about five sites). We searched for every one of the 54 local independents AI named to check it exists, is local and is independent.

Limits. Each question was asked once, and AI answers vary. The ChatGPT and Claude apps can search the web and personalise; our API questions did neither, so they show what each AI knows by itself. 12 places are a snapshot, not a national sample.

Disclosure. Chislehurst Pharmacy is a Gildhart client, and we chose to include Chislehurst. We show results with and without it. The hero answer is ChatGPT’s real reply to “Best pharmacy for a flu vaccination in Llanelli”, trimmed.

Patients are already asking. One in seven UK adults have used AI for health advice instead of contacting a GP or NHS service. King’s College London, The use of AI in UK healthcare (Focaldata, 2,093 UK adults, March 2026).

Questions about the study

How often does ChatGPT recommend an independent pharmacy?

Rarely. In our study of 480 answers from ChatGPT and Claude across 12 UK places, 36 (7.5%) named a real, local, independent pharmacy or clinic. ChatGPT did so in 12.5% of its answers, Claude in 2.5%.

Which pharmacies does AI recommend most?

Chains. Boots was named in 68% of answers and Superdrug in 49%. A chain was the first name in 74% of the answers that named a provider.

Does AI recommend pharmacies and clinics that don’t exist?

Sometimes. Of the 54 local independents AI named, we could not find 14 anywhere, including “Epsom Pharmacy” and “Cardiff Private Clinic”. Another 6 were real but in a different town.

How can an independent pharmacy get recommended by ChatGPT?

Give AI something it can find and trust: a page for every service with the price, who it’s for and how to book; published prices; the same name, address and services on your website, Google Business Profile and the NHS website; and pages that answer the situations patients describe. Chislehurst Pharmacy, a Gildhart client with a page for every service, was named in 10 of 12 ChatGPT answers about the services it offers.

How was the study done?

On 8 November 2026 we asked ChatGPT and Claude 20 questions about five private services (travel vaccinations, weight loss, ear wax removal, private blood tests and flu jabs) in each of 12 UK places, four ways each: 480 answers. We then checked every local independent they named by web search.

Your practice

What does AI say about your practice?

We ask ChatGPT and Claude the questions your patients ask about your services in your town, and show you who they name instead of you. Free, in about ten minutes.

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