Stock is one of the few parts of a general practice where the problems are always visible in hindsight and almost never visible in advance. Expired stock, double orders, "I thought you ordered it" — none of these are people problems. They're system problems, and the fix is a boring, repeatable stock-take routine.
Key takeaways
- Run a quick monthly stock take (expiry sweep, fridge audit, fast movers) and one deep quarterly count of every storage location.
- The vaccine fridge gets special treatment — batch and expiry records, twice-daily temperature checks, and a breach plan (see our Strive for 5 checklist).
- Set reorder points for your 20 fast-moving lines instead of reordering from memory; that alone kills most double-ordering.
- Keep a dated stock-take record with a named owner — it's the evidence accreditation surveyors actually ask for.
- Tools like cIQventory automate the expiry alerts, QR stock takes and reorder lists; the routine stays the same either way.
Why stock systems drift (and why it's not anyone's fault)
Every practice starts organised. Then a nurse goes on leave, a GP starts a new wound-care protocol that uses different dressings, the wholesaler substitutions a product, and six months later nobody can say with confidence what's in the treatment-room drawer. The drift is normal — the response is what separates practices that lose hundreds of dollars a quarter in expired stock from practices that don't.
Two structural fixes do most of the work:
- One named stock owner with a delegate. Not "everyone keeps an eye on it" — one person (often the practice manager or senior nurse) whose name is on the stock-take record, with someone who covers their leave.
- A fixed calendar slot. The stock take happens on the first Tuesday of the month or it doesn't happen. Anything scheduled as "when things quieten down" never happens, because things never quieten down.
The monthly stock take: 30 minutes, six steps
This is the quick pass. Its job is catching expiry, waste and gaps before they cost money:
- Expiry sweep, every location. Treatment rooms, storeroom, doctors' rooms, the panic drawer in reception. Anything expiring within three months gets moved to the front, labelled with its expiry date and noted for use-first or swap.
- Vaccine fridge audit. Batch numbers and expiries against your stock record, plus a glance at the temperature log (the full routine is in our cold chain checklist).
- Fast movers only. Count your 20 highest-turnover lines — gloves, dressings, syringes, swabs, sharps containers. Don't count the whole storeroom monthly; that's the quarterly job.
- Reorder-point check. For each fast mover: is current stock below the reorder point? Order what's needed, not what "feels low".
- Equipment glance. Anything out of calibration, out of date or broken — log it now, fix or replace deliberately.
- Write it down. Date, who did it, what was found, what was actioned. Five lines is enough. This record is the accreditation evidence.
The quarterly deep stock take
Once a quarter, count everything: full storeroom, every treatment room, doctors' rooms, the fridge, and emergency stock. Two people make it fast — one counts, one records. While you're in there:
- Compare counted quantities against your records and investigate big variances (the usual culprits: an unbilled procedure pack, a hoarded drawer, a ward-sized "borrowing" that never came back).
- Consolidate part-used boxes — three half-used boxes of the same dressing is how stock goes expired.
- Review emergency stock: the emergency drug box expiry dates, oxygen cylinder dates, and the spill kit.
- Update your master list. If a product line isn't on it, either add it or ask why it's being bought.
Reorder discipline: kill the double order
Most clinics over-order not because they're careless but because nobody trusts the records — so everyone reorders from memory, and memory double-orders. The fix is unglamorous: a reorder point for each fast-moving line (the level that triggers an order, roughly two to four weeks of usage) and a single ordering day each week so orders are batched and visible.
This is exactly where cIQventory earns its keep for Australian practices: batch expiry dates captured once at intake, automatic expiry alerts, a QR-scan stock take instead of a clipboard count, and reorder lists that generate themselves. It's non-PHI by design — it tracks stock, not patients — so there's nothing sensitive in it to protect, and there's a free tier to start with.
Documentation that survives accreditation
The RACGP Standards expect practices to manage stock — including vaccine cold chain and emergency equipment — with clear accountability. In practice, surveyors want to see: a monitoring log for the vaccine fridge with a named responsible person; evidence of expiry management; an equipment register with servicing and calibration dates; and ordering records. None of that needs to be elaborate. A dated monthly stock-take record, an accurate fridge log and a current equipment list cover most of the ground.
If any of those currently live in someone's head or on a spreadsheet only one person can decipher, write them down properly this month. The ClinicIQ template library includes practice checklists you can adapt rather than starting from a blank page.
This article is general information for Australian general practice teams, not medical or accreditation advice. Always confirm requirements against the current RACGP Standards and your state or territory health department guidance.
Frequently asked questions
How often should a GP clinic do a stock take?
A quick monthly stock take — expiry sweep, fridge audit, top-up of fast movers — plus one deep quarterly count of every storeroom, treatment room and the vaccine fridge. The monthly pass keeps the quarterly one from becoming a two-day project.
Does cIQventory store patient information?
No. cIQventory is non-PHI by design — it tracks stock, batches, expiry dates and reorder levels, not patients. Nothing in it connects to a patient record, which keeps it simple to roll out and well clear of health-records obligations.
How does cIQventory handle vaccine expiry?
Batch expiry dates are recorded once at intake, and the tool surfaces what is expiring next so short-dated stock can be used first or rotated before it is wasted. Combined with a twice-daily fridge check routine, it keeps cold-chain stock visible.
What should we do with short-dated stock?
Move it to the front, label it with the expiry date, plan to use it first, and check whether the wholesaler will swap it before it expires. National Immunisation Program vaccine that expires is generally not replaceable, so short-dated NIP stock deserves a deliberate plan, not a shrug.
Do stock takes need to be documented for accreditation?
Yes. Surveyors commonly ask for evidence of stock management — vaccine fridge monitoring logs, expiry management, equipment registers and ordering records. A dated stock-take record with a named owner covers most of what they want to see.
Stop counting with a clipboard. cIQventory gives Australian GP clinics QR stock takes, expiry alerts and self-generating reorder lists — non-PHI by design, free to start.