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1. About this Privacy Policy
Lemonpill respects your privacy and the confidentiality of your healthcare. This policy explains how Lemon Pill Ltd, trading as Lemonpill (“we”, “us” or “our”), collects and uses personal information when you visit lemonpill.com, contact us, purchase products, or use our NHS and private pharmacy services.
It covers relevant online and offline records, including prescriptions, consultations, orders and correspondence. A particular service may have additional privacy information, which we will provide when relevant.
We must comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), as amended, including by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. We also have professional and common-law duties to protect confidential patient information.
This is an information notice, not a request for blanket consent. Visiting our website or accepting our Terms and Conditions does not mean that you consent to every use of your information. Where consent is needed, we ask separately.
2. Who is responsible for your information?
Lemon Pill Ltd is the data controller for the personal information we use to operate our pharmacy and website. A controller decides why and how personal information is used.
Trading name: Lemonpill
Company number: 13653771, registered in England and Wales
Registered office: Office 327, Omnibus, 39-41 North Road, London, N7 9DP, United Kingdom
Registered pharmacy: Office 327, Omnibus House, Busworks, 39-41 North Road, London, N7 9DP, United Kingdom
GPhC pharmacy registration: 9012565
Email: hello@lemonpill.com
Telephone: 020 3866 6685
Alternative telephone: 020 7916 0596
Use these details for privacy enquiries, information-rights requests or complaints. Marking a message “Data protection” helps us direct it appropriately, but is not a requirement. Please ask about a secure way to provide sensitive documents rather than sending unnecessary medical information by ordinary email.
Your GP, an independent prescriber, an NHS organisation or a separate service provider may also be a controller for information they use for their own responsibilities. Their notices explain that processing. Using a supplier does not remove our responsibility for processing carried out on our behalf.
3. Information we collect
The information needed depends on the service you use. We collect relevant information rather than requiring a full medical history for every shop purchase.
Identity and contact information: your name, date of birth, contact details, billing and delivery addresses, NHS number where relevant, GP details, and information needed to verify your identity, age or a representative’s authority.
Health and pharmacy information: prescriptions, medicines supplied, allergies, relevant medical history, symptoms, consultation answers, clinical observations and measurements, test results where relevant, treatment decisions, referrals, monitoring and advice. This can include sensitive information about pregnancy, sexual health, disability or other conditions where necessary for your care.
Orders, payments and NHS charges: products or services requested, transaction references, amounts, payment and refund status, delivery information, and relevant exemption or prescription-prepayment information. Payment providers handle payment credentials as necessary to process a transaction; their privacy information should be available through the relevant payment service.
Accounts and communications: account details, preferences, appointment information, messages, enquiries, complaints, consent records and records of advice. If a particular service involves recording a call or consultation, we will explain the recording, purpose and relevant arrangements beforehand.
Website and technical information: IP address, browser and device information, access times, security events and relevant interactions with our website. Cookie identifiers and browsing information may also be collected in accordance with your choices and our Cookies Policy.
Health information receives additional protection. Purchase details, browsing behaviour or inferred interests can also be sensitive where they reveal information about an identifiable person’s health. Replacing a name with a code does not necessarily make information anonymous.
4. Where information comes from and what you need to provide
We receive information directly from you when you register, order, complete a consultation, speak to our team or contact us. We also create records when dispensing, assessing treatment, giving advice and managing your care.
Where relevant and lawful, information comes from your GP, another prescriber, a referring healthcare provider, NHS prescription or care-record systems, an authorised representative, a payment provider or a delivery provider. Access to NHS records is limited to authorised purposes and the applicable access and confidentiality rules. We will explain the relevant source more specifically where needed.
Some information is needed to fulfil an order, assess treatment safely, verify eligibility or meet a legal record-keeping requirement. We will explain when information is required and why. Without it, we may be unable to provide the requested service safely or lawfully. Optional marketing and cookie choices are not conditions of receiving pharmacy care.
If you provide another person’s information, explain your relationship and authority. Please keep relevant details current, particularly your contact information, allergies and medicines.
5. Why we use information and our lawful bases
We identify a lawful basis under Article 6 of the UK GDPR for each purpose. Health information also requires an additional condition under Article 9. The following explains the grounds for our principal activities; we use the ground appropriate to the activity, not whichever is most convenient.
NHS dispensing and pharmacy care
We use information to receive and check prescriptions, supply medicines safely, provide NHS pharmacy services, communicate with your care team and administer the relevant NHS service. Our principal basis is public task, Article 6(1)(e), for healthcare functions established under NHS law, including the NHS Act 2006 and applicable pharmaceutical-services regulations.
For health information, we generally rely on Article 9(2)(h) for healthcare or management of healthcare services, together with Schedule 1, Part 1, paragraph 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018. This processing is subject to professional secrecy and confidentiality safeguards.
Private services, purchases and appointments
We use information to take steps you request before a contract and to provide agreed consultations, products, appointments, payments, refunds and deliveries. The basis is contract, Article 6(1)(b), where the processing is necessary for that purpose. Private clinical care also uses the healthcare condition in Article 9(2)(h) and the associated UK safeguards.
Where another person contracts for a patient’s care, necessary processing may instead rely on our legitimate interest in providing the requested care, Article 6(1)(f), subject to the patient’s rights and the same additional health-information safeguards.
Legal and regulatory responsibilities
We use relevant information to meet requirements such as medicines record-keeping, accounting, tax, lawful regulatory disclosures and responding to information-rights requests. Where the law requires the processing, the basis is legal obligation, Article 6(1)(c). Health information still requires an applicable Article 9 condition; a legal obligation alone is not sufficient.
Security, enquiries, complaints and legal claims
We use relevant information to protect accounts and systems, prevent misuse, answer general enquiries, resolve disputes and establish or defend legal claims. Where not governed by a specific legal duty or care function, we rely on legitimate interests, Article 6(1)(f). Our interests are secure services, effective customer support and protection of legal rights, balanced against your privacy and reasonable expectations.
Clinical complaint handling may fall within healthcare management under Article 9(2)(h). Health information needed for legal claims may be processed under Article 9(2)(f). We do not use a general security or business-interest justification to bypass the additional restrictions on sensitive information.
Safeguarding and serious emergencies
Necessary information may be used to protect a child or an adult at risk, comply with a safeguarding duty or respond to a serious emergency. The basis depends on the situation, such as a legal obligation, our NHS public task, or vital interests under Article 6(1)(d). Relevant health-information conditions can include healthcare, substantial public interest with an applicable UK safeguarding condition, or Article 9(2)(c) where necessary to protect vital interests and the person cannot physically or legally consent.
Optional marketing and website tracking
Under this policy, optional promotional emails and texts, and optional analytics or advertising tracking, rely on consent, Article 6(1)(a), together with any consent required by PECR. Necessary website security processing may instead rely on legitimate interests, while technology essential to provide a requested online service may be exempt from cookie consent. Sections 10 and 11 explain the choices available.
Consent to treatment, permission under confidentiality rules and consent under data-protection law are different matters. We do not generally rely on data-protection consent for the clinical records needed to provide and document your care.
6. Who we share information with
We share relevant information only where there is a lawful and necessary purpose, with appropriate confidentiality and security safeguards. Recipients may include:
- Your healthcare team: your GP, authorised prescribers, other pharmacies, hospitals or other professionals involved in your treatment, and laboratories where a relevant test is arranged.
- NHS organisations: NHS England, the NHS Business Services Authority, relevant commissioners and authorised NHS systems, where needed for prescriptions, service administration, payment claims, audits or lawful reporting.
- People acting for you: a carer, representative or nominated recipient, but only within their authority and the information needed for their role.
- Service providers: pharmacy-record and prescription systems, hosting, appointment and consultation platforms, IT support, security, communications, payment processing and delivery services. A courier normally needs delivery information, not your full clinical record.
- Professional and public bodies: regulators, professional advisers, insurers, safeguarding authorities, emergency services or law-enforcement bodies, where disclosure is legally required or otherwise properly justified.
Organisations processing information only on our behalf must act under appropriate contractual instructions and safeguards. Other recipients may have their own controller responsibilities. We will identify a separate clinical provider and explain relevant information sharing when arranging that service.
Necessary sharing within your direct-care team may be supported by implied consent under the common-law duty of confidentiality, where its conditions are met. This is not consent to advertising or unrestricted access to your records. We obtain explicit permission where required and consider objections, explaining any effect on safe care and any lawful reason sharing must continue.
We do not sell or rent confidential patient information or provide it to other businesses for their own marketing. A request from another organisation does not, by itself, justify disclosure.
If the pharmacy changes ownership or a service transfers, relevant records may need to transfer for continuity of care and lawful administration. Any transfer must protect confidentiality, limit access and provide appropriate information to affected patients. A business transaction is not permission to repurpose patient records for unrelated uses.
7. NHS records and the national data opt-out
The NHS national data opt-out in England lets you make a choice about uses of confidential patient information for research and planning, subject to the scheme’s scope and exemptions. Where our use or disclosure falls within the policy, we must apply the relevant requirements.
The national data opt-out does not prevent information being used for your individual care. Separate arrangements apply to matters such as Summary Care Records and pharmacy nomination. Contact us to discuss a particular sharing concern. We do not treat a prescription request as permission for unrelated research or commercial use.
8. Information processed outside the UK
We assess where our providers store information and whether people in another country can access it. UK website hosting alone does not establish that every connected payment, communications or support service processes information only in the UK.
Where a restricted international transfer is involved, it must be covered by an applicable UK adequacy arrangement, appropriate safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum with the required assessment, or a limited legal exception where its conditions are met.
We will explain the relevant destination and transfer arrangement in the privacy information for the affected processing. You can contact us for information about a transfer affecting your data and a copy of the applicable safeguards, with legitimate confidential details protected where necessary. We do not treat your acceptance of general website terms as permission for unrestricted overseas transfers.
9. How long we keep information
We keep information only for as long as there is a justified purpose, taking account of legal requirements, safe care and applicable professional guidance. Different records have different retention rules; closing a website account does not automatically require deletion of clinical or legally required records.
Clinical, prescription and consultation records: retention depends on the record type, the last treatment or entry, the patient’s age and relevant legal and NHS requirements. Some children’s, safeguarding and specialist records need longer retention. We take account of the applicable NHS Records Management Code of Practice and any service-specific rules, rather than applying one period to all pharmacy records.
Orders, accounts and financial records: we retain what is needed to administer the transaction or active account and then meet the applicable accounting, tax, complaint or legal-claim period. Data unnecessary for those purposes is not retained simply because part of an order record must be kept.
Identity checks and correspondence: supporting documents are kept only for the verification or evidential purpose that justifies them. Enquiries and complaints are retained for resolution, any relevant review or claim period, and applicable healthcare requirements where they form part of a patient record.
Marketing preferences, security information and cookies: marketing contact information is kept while the relevant permission remains valid and needed. A limited suppression record may be retained after an opt-out to prevent further marketing. Technical records are retained according to their security purpose, with incident-related records kept where investigation requires it. Cookie durations are explained in our Cookies Policy and declaration.
We review retention and securely delete or effectively anonymise information when no longer needed. A legal hold, ongoing complaint or investigation can require particular records to be retained longer; this must be justified. Contact us for the period and reasoning applicable to a particular record.
10. Service messages and marketing choices
We use your contact details for necessary order, appointment, prescription and patient-safety communications. These are different from promotional messages. Tell us about confidentiality concerns, a shared telephone or email account, or a safer way to contact you.
Under our opt-in approach, we send promotional emails or texts only after you agree to the relevant marketing. You can unsubscribe through the message or contact us. You have an absolute right to object to direct marketing, including profiling related to it. Stopping marketing does not stop necessary care or transaction messages.
We do not treat your treatment history as a marketing permission. Using identifiable health information or inferred health profiles for marketing requires separate, explicit consent where that processing is proposed. A general newsletter choice or cookie acceptance is not a substitute.
11. Cookies and similar technologies
Our Cookies Policy explains the technologies used, their purposes and durations, and how to change your choices. Cookies, pixels and similar technologies can collect personal information; they are not automatically anonymous because they do not contain your name.
Our approach is to obtain consent before optional analytics, non-essential personalisation or advertising tracking operates. We do not assume that all analytics qualify for a legal exemption. Genuinely necessary technologies may operate without consent where the applicable exemption is met.
You can reject optional purposes and change your decision through the cookie controls. Continuing to browse or accepting these policies is not cookie consent. Tracking must be configured so that confidential prescription details, consultation responses or sensitive identifiers are not disclosed to advertising providers merely because a visitor selected “Accept all”.
12. Automated processing and human review
Our decisions about treatment and access to clinical care involve meaningful review by an appropriate healthcare professional. An online questionnaire or automated alert supports assessment; it is not, by itself, a prescription or final clinical decision.
Where a service uses automated checks, we must explain any solely automated decision that has a legal or similarly significant effect, including meaningful information about how it works and the likely consequences. Applicable safeguards include an opportunity to make representations, obtain human intervention and challenge the decision. Additional restrictions apply to significant automated decisions involving health information.
Contact us if an automated process appears to prevent an order or access to a service, or if you need a decision explained. This policy does not authorise an undisclosed automated decision about your healthcare.
13. How we protect information
We apply technical and organisational measures appropriate to the sensitivity and risks of the information, including controlled access, staff confidentiality obligations, secure handling of records, supplier checks and procedures for managing incidents. Access must be limited to people who need the information for an authorised purpose.
No system can promise absolute security. This does not reduce our duty to protect your information or respond appropriately to a breach. Where the law requires notification, we will notify the regulator and affected individuals within the applicable requirements.
Use a secure password and contact us if you suspect unauthorised access. Do not post prescription details or sensitive health information in public comments or social-media messages. Ask us for a suitable secure channel when sharing clinical documents.
14. Children, young people and representatives
We may process a child’s or young person’s information where appropriate pharmacy care is provided, including through an authorised adult. A purchasing age restriction does not remove the young person’s privacy rights or automatically prohibit lawful healthcare.
We consider the young person’s understanding, confidentiality, welfare and applicable consent rules. A parent, carer or person paying for treatment is not automatically entitled to the complete clinical record. Requests made on another person’s behalf require appropriate authority and checks.
Please ask for privacy information in a format or explanation suited to your needs. We will support patients and authorised representatives in understanding and exercising their rights.
15. Your information rights
Depending on the processing and applicable legal conditions, you can:
- Access: ask for a copy of your personal information and an explanation of its use.
- Correct: ask us to correct inaccurate information or complete an incomplete record. An accurate historical clinical entry may need an explanatory addition rather than removal.
- Erase or restrict: ask for deletion or limits on use where the legal conditions apply. These rights do not always require removal of records needed for healthcare, legal obligations or legal claims.
- Object: object on grounds relating to your situation to processing based on public task or legitimate interests. We will assess whether a lawful overriding reason permits it to continue. Direct-marketing objections must be honoured.
- Portability: request information you provided in a commonly used, machine-readable format, and transfer where technically feasible, where processing is automated and based on consent or contract. This right does not apply to every clinical record.
- Withdraw consent: withdraw a consent-based choice at any time without affecting processing that was lawful before withdrawal. This does not require us to stop separate processing supported by another lawful basis.
- Challenge significant automated decisions and complain: use the applicable safeguards described above and raise concerns with us or the Information Commissioner’s Office.
These rights are not all absolute. Where a lawful restriction or exemption applies, we will explain our response as far as permitted. We must also protect other people’s information when responding to a request.
16. How to exercise your rights
Contact us using the details in section 2. You do not need a solicitor, a particular form or legal wording. Requests may be made verbally or in writing. We may ask for proportionate information to confirm identity or representative authority where necessary, without collecting excessive documents.
We normally respond without undue delay and within one month. Where the law permits an extension because of complexity or the number of requests, we may take up to two additional months, explaining the reason within the initial period.
For an access request, a permitted pause while obtaining reasonably necessary clarification, or applicable identity-verification rules, may affect the deadline. We will explain this where relevant and will not require you to narrow a request merely to reduce our workload.
Requests are normally free. We may charge a reasonable fee or decline a request only where the law permits, for example a manifestly unfounded or excessive request, and will explain the reason and available complaint route.
17. Privacy complaints
To complain about our use of information, email hello@lemonpill.com, call 020 3866 6685 or write to our registered office. Tell us what happened and the outcome you are seeking. No special form is required, and we can help with accessible communication.
We will acknowledge a data-protection complaint within 30 days of receiving it, make appropriate enquiries without undue delay, keep you informed and explain the outcome without undue delay. The acknowledgement period is not permission to postpone an urgent investigation or a guarantee that every investigation finishes within 30 days.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data-protection regulator. The ICO generally expects you to raise the matter with us first. Our complaints process does not remove your right to seek independent advice or a judicial remedy.
18. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when our services, information practices or legal requirements change. The date above identifies this version. We will provide appropriate notice of material changes and explain a new use before it begins where required.
Publishing an update does not automatically authorise a new purpose or replace fresh consent where needed. Your continued use of the website does not waive your privacy rights.