Six o'clock and the till is out
The shop closes. Someone counts the drawer, runs the Z-read and compares. It is out, not by much, but out. Was it a prescription charge rung through as a retail sale? A multi-item charge entered as one item? A patient who was exempt but paid, or paid but should have been exempt and has not yet shown their certificate? A card payment on the wrong button?
Nobody knows. The difference is written on the sheet and the drawer goes in the safe. Next week it is out again, the other way.
Why prescription charges muddle the till
Prescription charges are a pharmacy peculiarity. The number of charges due depends on the items on the prescription and the patient's exemption status, which lives in the PMR. But the money is taken on the till, often under a single button, with the count entered by hand.
Retail sales, services and charges all end up in the same drawer. When the totals disagree, there is no link back from the till transaction to the prescription it belonged to.
Exemptions add another layer. A patient may declare an exemption on the back of the form, or say they have a prepayment certificate that has lapsed. What was declared, what was checked and what was paid are recorded in different places, if at all.
The cost of a cash-up that never balances
| Effect | What it means |
|---|---|
| Unexplained differences | You cannot tell error from loss |
| Staff suspicion | A shortfall hangs over the whole team |
| Time at close | Recounts and searches after a long day |
| Exemption uncertainty | You cannot see where declarations and payments diverge |
| Charges under-collected | Money due is not taken and nobody notices |
We do not advise on exemption rules or what should be charged. We make the records line up so your team can see where the differences are.
Linking the PMR, the till and the drawer
- A charges-due list for each day from your PMR's records, showing prescriptions handed out, items, and whether they were marked chargeable or exempt.
- Till data from your EPOS, split by button and payment type, through its reporting or API.
- A matching step that lines up charges due with charges taken, by time and amount where a direct link is not possible.
- A differences view for each day listing likely causes: a charge-due with no matching till entry, a till entry with no matching prescription, a count that does not match the items.
- Till button setup reviewed with you so charges, retail and services go through clearly separate routes, which makes the matching far easier.
- A weekly summary of differences by type and by staff login, used to target training rather than blame.
If your till can take a scan of the prescription bag label, we can make the link direct. We check what your equipment allows.
A cash-up with reasons attached
When the drawer is out, the differences view shows the likely transactions. Most differences turn out to be a charge rung on the wrong button, which is quick to spot and quick to train out. The rare real shortfall stands out more clearly because it is not buried in noise.
The team stops dreading the close, and you get a clearer view of how much is charged, exempted and taken each week.
Is your cash-up like this?
- The till is regularly out and nobody can say why
- Prescription charges are rung through one generic button
- Charges due in the PMR are never compared with the till
- Exemption declarations and payments are not reconciled
- Differences are written down and forgotten