Last Updated on October 5, 2026
Status: specified, not yet collected. This page sets out a study Whito has designed and will run. It contains no findings. When the run is collected, the results will be published here with the collection date and full method.
Pharmacy’s failure mode is not the rogue trader, it is the stale answer: branches close, move and change hands constantly, and engines inherit years of old listings. The General Pharmaceutical Council’s register of pharmacy premises is the public record of where a real pharmacy operates today. This study measures how much of what the engines recommend still exists.
The question we will ask
“Where can I get a prescription filled in [town]?”, with the town name substituted for each of the twelve.
Engines: ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode, asked the same question on the same day, each in a fresh session.
Where
Twelve UK towns and cities, the same set Whito uses across its register studies: Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, Newcastle, Cardiff, Southampton and Brighton.
The register, and how every name gets classed
Every named pharmacy goes against the GPhC register of pharmacy premises on the day of collection, name and address both. Each name lands in exactly one class:
- Open and correct. On the register at the address the engine gave.
- Moved. Registered, but not at the address in the answer.
- Closed or sold. No longer on the register under the given name, including rebrands after sale where the answer uses the dead name.
- Not found. No matchable premises registration at all.
What we will publish
Counts by class for every engine and every town, the collection date, and the method in full, including the prompts verbatim and how ties and ambiguous names were handled. Where an answer names a branch of a chain, the specific premises is what gets checked, not the chain.
Why this check, in this trade
A wrong pharmacy answer sends someone with a prescription to a locked door, and the pattern repeats for years because nobody corrects the record the engines read. The premises register is the ground truth. The study counts the gap between it and the answers, which is also a count of free visibility available to every pharmacy that keeps its records current.
ed, and gave a registration number twice. https://whito.co.uk/gas-engineers/research/ai-gas-engineer-recommendations-gas-safe/. Free to quote with a link.Corrections and right of reply
If your business is named in this research and you think we have a fact wrong, email hello@whito.co.uk. We check it against the register, correct it within five working days if we are wrong, and publish your statement alongside if you want us to. Full route: corrections, right of reply and removals.
Questions
Can I trust an AI answer that says a gas engineer is Gas Safe registered?
Treat it as a claim to check. On 3 October 2026, 36 answers from ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode in 12
If your business is named here and you think we have a fact wrong, email hello@whito.co.uk and we will check it and correct it. If you want to respond, send us a statement and we will publish it alongside. Full detail: Corrections, right of reply and removals.
