THE flu crisis has triggered a shortage of popular remedies Night Nurse and Lemsip.
The medicine cabinet essentials are in short supply across pharmacies and supermarkets.
Lloyds Pharmacy has completely sold out of the syrupy liquid – known for its ability to bestow cold sufferers with a half-decent night’s sleep.
And Night Nurse capsules are also unavailable in places because of surging demand.
Haleon, the company that produces the drugs, is understood to be working hard to replenish stocks.
Demand for the products is said to be “much higher than in years gone by” as Britain grapples with flu, Covid and winter colds.
Shoppers took to social media to bemoan sold out supplies – reminiscent of when shelves were raided for toilet paper during the pandemic.
“Of all the things, why is there a shortage of Night Nurse!”, wrote one on Facebook.
Another asked friends: “Anywhere that has Night Nurse in stock right now please? I’ve genuinely never been this poorly, two weeks and counting. Proper feeling sorry for myself.”
A third shopper said: “Really shocked to find Tesco and ALL our local chemists sold out completely of Night Nurse and paracetamol tablets.
“Apparently there’s been a run on both since mid-December…guessing Whiskey may well be in short supply too.”
Mum Myleen Reynolds, 44, of Derby, said she had tried “numerous” places to find some. She said: “It’s been a nightmare, I can’t get it anywhere.”
There has also been reports of a shortage of Lempsip Max.
At some Boots in London, sachets were entirely sold out.
There were also reports of stocks running low in Waitrose and Tesco shops.
NHS data shows flu hospitalisations in England are up seven-fold in one month, with nearly 4,000 patients a day hospitalised by the virus last week.
The number of flu admissions is 100 times more than December last year, when only 34 patients were in hospital with flu.
Night Nurse contains an antihistamine called Promethazine, which helps to aid sleep while decongesting and drying up runny noses for easy breathing.
