UK & Ireland pharmacies — map and postcode search | mojApteczka

You live in Cork. The Polish family visiting you needs a painkiller at three in the morning. "Apteka 24h" is not a phrase the Irish Boots assistant recognises. Now what?

Since version 1.8.9, the Pharmacies screen in mojApteczka automatically detects when you are in Ireland or the United Kingdom and switches to a local catalogue of ~15 000 pharmacies in those countries. No country picker; the screen reflects where you are: name, address, postcode, opening hours when available, map pins, and a "Navigate" button to your maps app.

How the app knows where you are

mojApteczka reads device location (after you grant the location permission). If you are:

• in Poland → the screen opens with the Polish pharmacy map sourced from the official Polish pharmacy registry, duty-pharmacy rosters from county BIP portals, and opening hours from ZSMOPL,
• in Ireland → a catalogue of ~2 000 pharmacies in the Republic of Ireland (Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, PSI),
• in the United Kingdom → a catalogue of ~13 000 pharmacies (NHS pharmacy directory + GPhC).

Location-based routing means the Pharmacies screen always shows what makes sense locally — no manual toggle, no mix-up with a Polish brand name at an Irish Boots.

What you see in the UK and Irish catalogue

For each pharmacy you see:

• trading name — Boots, Lloyds, Hickey's, Sam McCauley, McCabes, Well, Tesco Pharmacy, independents,
• full address with postcode (Eircode in Ireland, postcode in the UK) for navigation,
• distance from your current position,
• opening hours where the source provides them,
• "Open now" status where hours allow the inference,
• phone button — one tap to ring the pharmacy (especially useful for night duty),
• navigate button — opens Apple Maps / Google Maps with the pharmacy as the destination.

How to find a pharmacy in the UK or Ireland

1. Open the Pharmacies section in mojApteczka,
2. If you are outside Poland (phone GPS in IE or UK), the app shows the local catalogue automatically — no extra step,
3. Type a name, address, or postcode in the search field — the list filters instantly,
4. Pins on the map show pharmacy positions; tap a name to open a card with the full details,
5. From the pharmacy card press Navigate to open Apple Maps / Google Maps with the pharmacy set as destination.

Why the map is capped at 300 pins

The UK has ~13 000 pharmacies. Drawing 13 000 markers in real time on iOS blocks the main thread and stutters map drag animations. mojApteczka caps visible pins to the 300 closest in the current viewport — drawing stays smooth on every iPhone from the iPhone 11 (2019) onward. Pinch to zoom and pins recompute — you see what fits the current viewport.

In practice: standing in central London you see the 300 closest pharmacies; zoom into Camden and you see Camden pharmacies, not Dover. The same applies in Ireland (though at ~2 000 the cap rarely bites).

Postcode search

The natural way to express a location in the UK or Ireland is the postcode (SW1A 1AA in London, D02 XR45 in Dublin). mojApteczka recognises both formats and searches pharmacies near the entered postcode — useful when you are not at the destination yet (you are planning a trip to Edinburgh) or when a host emailed you a postcode.

How it connects with other features

The international pharmacy catalogue is part of the broader "find a pharmacy" family:

• Pharmacy map in Poland — same UI, data from the Polish pharmacy registry and county BIP portals,
• Pharmacy opening hours — "Open now" filter in the Polish map; in UK/IE we show hours where the source provides them,
• Medicine substitutes — when the British or Irish pharmacist does not stock your medicine, find an alternative by active substance,
• Medicine search — check whether your Polish medicine has a UK/IE equivalent under a different brand name,
• Shared family kit — when you live between two countries, share a cabinet with relatives back home.

Language support

The Pharmacies UI runs in four languages (Polish, English, Ukrainian, Russian) regardless of the country you are in. A Polish person in Manchester uses a Polish interface but sees British pharmacy names and postcodes — untranslated, because that is what you will have to ask for locally anyway.

Availability

The Irish and UK pharmacy catalogues are available in the mojApteczka iOS app (from version 1.8.9, June 2026). The Android version is planned. The web version currently shows the Polish pharmacy map; UK/IE expansion is on the roadmap.

Planned next countries: Germany, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Spain (driven by the Polish diaspora). If you live elsewhere and would like a local catalogue, write to pomoc@mojapteczka.pl — we prioritise the queue based on actual demand.

Note: pharmacy data is sourced from local public registries (PSI for Ireland; NHS + GPhC for the United Kingdom). Pharmacies sometimes adjust opening hours on bank holidays (UK) or public holidays (IE) — phone ahead if exact timing matters. The phone number is on every pharmacy card.

The international pharmacy catalogue turns "I'm in a foreign country and have no idea where to go for medicine" into "I open mojApteczka, there are 300 pharmacies nearby, a postcode in the search, and turn-by-turn navigation one tap away." The first two countries (Ireland, United Kingdom) cover the largest Polish diaspora outside of Poland.