A handwritten stock sheet on the fridge door
Your clinic stocks a dozen or more vaccines for travel, occupational and routine use. Stock is counted by the nurse every week or two and written on a sheet. Orders go to the wholesaler when someone notices a box is nearly empty.
Two things keep happening. A patient arrives for a booked travel appointment and the vaccine they need has run out, so they have to come back. And at the back of the fridge, a box of a less common vaccine quietly passes its expiry date, is found during a check, and is thrown away.
Why the count never matches reality
The stock sheet and the diary are unrelated. The count tells you what was there on Tuesday, not what is booked to be used next week. Doses given are not deducted in real time, so the sheet is only as accurate as the last count.
Batches make it harder. Two boxes of the same vaccine may have different expiry dates, and without a batch-level record there is no easy way to use the older one first or see what is about to expire. Orders are placed on instinct, which works for common vaccines and fails for the ones used a few times a month.
What the gap costs you
| Symptom | Cost |
|---|---|
| Out of stock on the day | Patient rebooked, sometimes lost to another clinic |
| Expired doses | Stock written off |
| Emergency orders | Extra delivery charges and staff time |
| Counting by hand | Nurse time spent at the fridge |
| Batch records scattered | Slow to answer 'who received this batch?' |
The last row matters more than it looks. If a supplier ever asks about a specific batch, you want to be able to answer quickly from a record, not from a search through clinical notes.
How we connect stock to the diary
- Deliveries are booked in by batch and expiry date, by scanning the box barcode where it carries that data, or entering it from the delivery note.
- Each dose given is deducted from the right batch, either from the vaccination record in your practice system where we can read it, or from a quick tap by the nurse.
- Upcoming appointments that need a particular vaccine are read from the diary, using appointment types or a simple tag, to give a forecast of need over the coming weeks.
- The system warns when forecast use will outrun stock, and drafts a suggested order for someone to approve.
- Batches nearing expiry are flagged in time to use them first, if your clinicians are happy to, or to plan around them.
- A periodic count is still done, but it becomes a check against the expected figure, and differences are logged.
Which vaccine a patient receives is decided by your clinicians. The system only keeps the numbers honest and warns when they do not add up.
What the nurse team gets
No more discovering an empty box in front of a patient. Orders go in at the right time, with a quantity based on what is booked. Expiry surprises become rare. The weekly count takes less time because it is a check, not a full recount, and the batch history for any dose is already recorded.
The owner gets a clearer view of vaccine spend and wastage, which is useful when deciding whether a rarely used vaccine is worth stocking at all.
Signs your vaccine stock needs this
- Patients have been sent away because a vaccine ran out
- Expired stock is found during checks
- Orders are placed when someone notices a low box
- Stock is recorded on a sheet on the fridge
- Batch numbers are only in individual patient notes