Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Hay fever pill shortage: Are stocks low in Tayside and Fife – and where can you get Piriton or other antihistamines?

Post Thumbnail

Hay fever season is here, but with the country experiencing a national shortage of antihistamines, how are Tayside and Fife affected?

We investigated stock levels at pharmacies across Dundee, Angus, Fife and Perthshire, to find out how the shortage is impacting our areas.

Why is there an antihistamine shortage?

There is currently a shortage of an ingredient called chlorphenamine maleate. This has had a knock-on effect and has led to a shortage of Piriton and Piriteze.

And with customers switching to different brands and supermarket own-brand alternatives, this has led to an overall shortage of antihistamines.

But what is the picture in Tayside and Fife?

Dundee

Boots, High Street

There was a full house at Boots on Dundee’s High street, with Piriton, Piriteze and their own brand antihistamines all in stock when we checked.

Good news for hay fever sufferers in Dundee.

Boots in Dundee
Boots in Dundee was fully stocked.

Superdrug, Wellgate Centre

When we checked, Superdrug in the Wellgate Centre had Piriteze and their own brand of antihistamine in stock, but no Piriton.

Boots, Broughty Ferry

Boots in Broughty Ferry didn’t have any Piriton or Piriteze in stock, and didn’t have their own-brand alternative either.

However, they did have a different branded option available.

Angus

Superdrug, High Street, Arbroath

There was no Piriton available at Superdrug in Arbroath.

But they had Piriteze and their own brand available, as well as hay fever wipes.

Many pharmacies are out of Piriton at the moment.
Many pharmacies are out of Piriton at the moment.

Boots, St David Street, Brechin

Boots in Brechin were out of all types of antihistamines when we checked.

Davidsons Chemists, Castle Street, Forfar

Davidson’s in Forfar had no Piriton, but did have Piriteze in stock.

Perthshire

Lloyds Pharmacy, Glover Street, Perth

There was no Piriton or Piriteze at Lloyds in Perth, but they did have their own brand and alternative brands available too.

Lloyds in Perth had their own brand and other brands available.
Lloyds in Perth had their own brand and other brands available.

Davidsons Chemists, Dunkeld

Both Piriton and Piriteze were in stock at the Davidsons chemist in Dunkeld.

Davidsons Chemists, Pitlochry

This store had Piriton and Piriteze in liquid form, but no tablets. The did have their own-brand pills, however.

Fife

Dears Pharmacy, Glenrothes

Dears in Glenrothes had no Piriton or Piriteze in stock, but did have alternative brands available.

Lloyds Pharmacy, High Street, Kirkcaldy

Lloyds on Kirkcaldy High Street had Piriton and Piriteze in stock, in both tablet and liquid form.

Boots, St Andrews

This store had no Piriton but did have Piriteze and Boots’ own-brand antihistamines in stock too.

Advice from the pharmacist

Adam Osprey, policy and development pharmacist at Community Pharmacy Scotland, says: “Community pharmacists and pharmacy teams are experts at managing when there are shortages.

“The shortage is due to last only a few more weeks and then stocks will be back in.

“It could potentially be disruptive, given we’re firmly entering hay fever season.

“What’s really fortunate is antihistamines are a broad family of drugs. The two affected by shortages at the moment are only two out of several more that can be tried.”

What we found in Tayside and Fife

Only one pharmacy had nothing in stock, while most had either Piriton, Piriteze or an alternative available. So no cause for concern.

Adam Osprey says: “The pharmacy team will always be able to help you look into alternatives if you’re not able to get the one you’re used to taking.”

Have I got hay fever or the cold? The symptoms and treatments you need to know

Conversation