Pharmacy batch tracking and FEFO: record, rotate and trace every medicine batch

Why a stock total is not enough

A product record tells you that you hold 40 strips of a medicine. It does not tell you that 10 of them expire next month and 30 expire in two years. Every decision about expiry, rotation, returns and recalls depends on that difference.

A batch is one manufactured lot of a product. It has its own batch number (sometimes printed as lot number) and its own expiry date. Batch tracking means you keep a quantity for each batch, not only for each product.

Step 1: Capture the batch at receiving

The receiving desk is the only point where batch details are easy to collect. After the stock is on the shelf, nobody will go back and read every pack.

1. Compare the delivery with the purchase order and the supplier invoice: product, strength, pack size and quantity.
2. Read the batch number and expiry date from the packs, not only from the invoice. Note any line where they do not agree.
3. Enter each batch as a separate line, even when one product arrives in two batches.
4. Keep the stock in the receiving area until the entry is complete and checked.

Read the full stock receiving workflow

Step 2: Sell first-expiry-first-out

FEFO has two parts, and both are necessary:

• In your records: each sale reduces the batch with the earliest expiry date first. Then your batch quantities show what should physically remain.
• On the shelf: the earliest-expiring packs are in front, where staff pick first. New deliveries go behind.

If only one part is done, records and shelf will gradually disagree. Staff then sell the newer pack, and the system still shows the older batch as in stock. The older batch is usually found only after it has expired.

Step 3: Watch for out-of-order deliveries

Sometimes a new delivery expires before the stock you already hold, for example when a distributor clears older stock. If staff place this delivery behind the shelf stock, it will be the batch that expires.

Check the expiry date of every new batch against the earliest batch already on the shelf. When the new batch expires sooner, put it in front and move the existing stock back.

Step 4: Give each batch a place

Use a clear shelf address, such as rack, shelf and position, and keep it with the batch record. When you know where a batch is, a stock check, a rotation or a recall takes minutes instead of a search through the whole store.

See how shelf locations connect to stock

Step 5: Be ready for a recall

A recall or quality alert, from the regulator, the manufacturer or your distributor, usually names a product and one or more batch numbers. Prepare the steps before you need them:

1. Find every batch of the product and confirm whether you hold the named batch numbers.
2. Go to the shelf address and remove the affected packs from sale. Keep them in a separate, labelled quarantine area.
3. Count what you removed and compare it with the recorded quantity.
4. Follow the instructions in the notice for return or disposal, and keep a written record of what you did and when.

Do not decide yourself that a recalled batch is safe to sell. The notice and your supplier decide what happens to that stock.

Common batch tracking mistakes

• Entering one expiry date per product, usually the date of the newest delivery.
• Entering the invoice batch number without checking it against the packs.
• Combining two batches into one line to save time at receiving.
• Adjusting stock to match the shelf without first finding out which batch is wrong.

How RunMyPharmacy handles batches

In RunMyPharmacy you enter the batch number and expiry date for each line when you receive a purchase. A batch number that already exists with a different expiry date is rejected, so the mismatch is checked before the stock goes on sale.

Each sale deducts stock from the earliest-expiring unexpired batch, and the sale record keeps which batch the quantity came from. Expired batches are not sold. When a new delivery expires sooner than the stock already on the shelf, a rotation task tells staff to move it to the front. You can see every batch of a product with its remaining quantity, expiry date and shelf address.