The controlled drugs register

For clinics that keep controlled drugs (the strong, locked-away medicines like ketamine, methadone, morphine and buprenorphine). This shows you how to track your stock, have a vet sign things off, count what's in the safe, and print reports.

What this is (and what it isn't)

Wattle's Schedule 8 register is built to the standard a legal electronic drug register demands — PIN-signed entries, witnessed destructions, a tamper-evident ledger. There aren't different modes or strictness levels: everyone gets the full-strength register.

One honest caveat: for now, keep your existing paper or electronic drug records as well. Wattle hasn't yet formally taken on the legal responsibility of being your official register — when that day comes it will be announced and this note will disappear. Until then, treat this as a rigorous assistant that keeps your numbers straight and saves you copying figures by hand.

A few things worth knowing up front, so nothing surprises you:

• It has to be switched on. Nothing is tracked until someone enables it. (More on that just below.)
• Finalised entries can't be edited or deleted. That's deliberate — a controlled-drug register is meant to be tamper-evident. If something's wrong, you don't rub it out; you record a correction, which is a new entry that cancels the old one. You can always fix a mistake, just not by erasing it.
• Anyone can record a movement, but only a vet can finalise it. Nurses and reception can capture entries; a vet signs them off into the permanent record.

---

Turning the register on

Enable the Schedule 8 register

Usually: vet or admin (whoever sets up your clinic)

Before you've switched it on, the Schedule 8 page is mostly empty — it just explains what the feature does and offers one button.

Step by step

1. In the left sidebar, click Schedule 8.
2. You'll see a short explanation and a button labelled Enable the S8 register.
3. Click it. A small message confirms it's on, and the full register appears.

Other ways to do this

• ⭐ From the Schedule 8 page (recommended): the button above. This is the best path because the page explains what you're turning on.
• From Settings: Sidebar → Settings → Schedule 8 → switch on Capture controlled-drug entries. This does the same thing, but with less explanation.

---

Getting your drugs into the register

The drugs that appear here come from your catalogue — specifically the items marked as controlled (Schedule 8 / S4D). If a drug you keep isn't showing up, someone needs to add it to the catalogue first and tick the controlled-drug option. See The catalogue & prices.

Set up a controlled drug

Usually: vet

If a controlled drug isn't in your catalogue yet, you can add it without leaving the register.

Step by step

1. On the register page, click the three-dot menu (⋯) at the top right.
2. Choose Set up a controlled drug.
3. The catalogue item form opens with the Controlled drug (Schedule 8) section already on.
4. Fill in the name, choose the schedule, pick the Register (see below), and set a balance unit (for example "ampoule", "mL" or "tablet" — this is what the register counts in).
5. Save.

Record opening balances

Usually: vet only

Before Wattle can track movements accurately, it needs to know how much of each drug you already have. The register prompts you for this automatically — and it's one pass, not a dialog per drug.

Step by step

1. Open the Schedule 8 page (Register tab).
2. If any controlled drug has no starting count, a Set up your Schedule 8 register card appears near the top — one row per drug.
3. Count the physical stock in your safe.
4. Type each drug's balance into its row. Where Wattle already had a stock count for the drug, the figure is pre-filled — check it against the safe rather than trusting it blindly. A pre-fill that can't be right (zero or below) is left blank and flagged "(looks off)".
5. Click Confirm & enable register. Every balance is recorded at once.
6. Not holding any of the listed drugs yet? Start all at zero records every drug at 0 immediately — one click, no Confirm needed. Only use it when the safe really is empty (the once-only warning below applies to it too).

The card disappears once every drug has a balance. A drug added to the register later gets its own row on the same card next time it needs one.

⚠️ Important — count carefully, you only get one go. An opening balance can be set once per drug (per safe, if you run more than one). It becomes a finalised, signed entry straight away, so it can't be edited afterwards. Double-check your physical counts before you click Confirm. If you do get one wrong, don't panic — a vet can fix it later with Adjust stock (further down this page). There's just no "reset opening balance" button.

---

Day-to-day: recording what happens to the drugs

There are two ways movements land in the register:

1. Automatically from billing and consults. When you bill or administer a controlled drug, Wattle quietly drops a pending entry into the register for a vet to sign off. You don't have to do anything special.
2. By hand, using Add entry — handy for stock you've received, or anything billing didn't capture.

Either way, the entry waits in the Pending sign-off list until a vet finalises it.

Add an entry by hand

Usually: anyone (front desk, nurse or vet)

Step by step

1. On the Register tab, click Add entry (top right).
2. Choose the Drug from the searchable list.
3. Choose the Type:
   • Receipt — stock you've received in.
   • Supply — given/dispensed to a client.
   • Administration — given to a patient.
   • Wastage — discarded (small amounts; for proper destruction use the Destruction action below).
   • Return to stock — drawn up but not used, going back into the safe.
   • Transfer out — stock leaving your practice (to another practice, or back to the supplier).
4. Enter the Quantity (the box shows the unit).
5. Fill in the details the law wants for that kind of movement — the right boxes appear automatically:
   • Receipt → the Supplier (required) and the Supply reference — the invoice or delivery-docket number that came with the stock.
   • Supply / Administration → the Patient (searchable; picking one fills in the Species for you) — optional, but worth doing.
   • Transfer out → Transferred to (required — the practice or supplier receiving it) and a Reference (return authority or docket number).
   • Return to stock → optionally the Patient it was drawn up for.
6. Check Occurred at — it starts at right now, which is usually correct. If you're catching up on something from earlier today (or yesterday), set it to when the movement actually happened; the register is meant to reflect the real time, not the typing time.
7. If your clinic runs more than one safe, pick the Safe the stock moved through. (Single-safe clinics never see this box.)
8. Add an optional Note if it helps.
9. Click Add entry.

A message confirms it's been added and is awaiting vet sign-off. When the vet signs it off, those details are shown to them in the confirmation — so record them right and the vet just checks.

Fix or remove a pending entry (before sign-off)

Usually: anyone (front desk, nurse or vet)

Pending entries are the draft layer — until a vet signs one off, it can be freely edited or discarded. Spotted a typo'd quantity or a double-up? Fix it here rather than leaving it for the vet to untangle. (A charge that's voided or edited in billing now tidies up its own pending entry — see the note above — so this is mostly for hand-added entries.)

Step by step (edit)

1. In the Pending sign-off card, click the pencil icon on the row.
2. Change what's wrong — quantities (including wastage), when it happened, or the note.
3. Save. The entry stays in the queue with the corrected details.

Step by step (discard)

1. Click the bin icon on the row.
2. Type a reason (for example "Duplicate — captured twice").
3. Confirm. The entry is removed and never touches the register balance.

Every edit and discard is recorded in the register's audit log — the draft layer is flexible, not invisible.

Sign off a pending entry

Usually: vet only

Captured entries (from billing or added by hand) sit in the Pending sign-off card until a vet reviews and finalises them.

Step by step (one entry)

1. In the Pending sign-off card, click the row for the entry you want to sign off.
2. A dialog shows the drug, type and quantities, and warns that this is permanent.
3. The quantities are editable right here — this is your last chance to correct them. Out-entries show Quantity given and Wastage separately (the register records given + wastage leaving the safe); stock-in entries show a single Quantity received.
4. Type your PIN — your signature on the entry (see PIN sign-off below).
5. Click Process. The entry moves into the Finalised ledger with a running balance.

Other ways to do this

• ⭐ One entry — click the row (recommended for one-offs): there's no separate button, you just click anywhere on the pending row to open the sign-off dialog.
• Several at once — Process queue: when there are two or more pending entries (and you're a vet), a Process queue button appears in the card. It opens a dedicated page (see below).

Sign off several entries at once (Process queue)

Usually: vet only

Step by step

1. In the Pending sign-off card, click Process queue (shows when there are 2+ pending entries).
2. A dedicated Process queue page opens, listing every pending entry.
3. Either:
   • Click Process all (N) at the top to do the whole list, or
   • Tick the rows you want, then click Process selected.
4. A dialog lists everything you're about to finalise. Type your PIN once — it covers the whole batch — and click Process N to confirm.

---

Counting your stock (reconciliation)

Every so often — your state's rules set how often — you should count the physical stock and check it against the register. The Stock checks due figure on the summary cards at the top of the Register tab keeps score: it counts the drugs whose last physical count (a stock check, or the opening balance when the register began) is older than your state's cadence allows. Wattle gives you two tools for the counting itself.

Do a blind stock check

Usually: vet only

A "blind" stock check means you count without seeing what the register expects — so the count is honest. Wattle only reveals the expected number after you submit.

Step by step

1. Click the Stock check button at the top right of the register.
2. Choose the Drug.
3. Count the physical stock in the safe.
4. Type the Physical count (you won't see the expected number yet).
5. Click Submit count.
   • The count matched → the stock check records immediately and you'll see Counted, Expected and Discrepancy (zero). Done.
   • There's a difference → nothing is recorded yet. An investigate step shows the counted and expected figures and asks you to check the usual suspects before accepting:
     • Recount the safe — include opened bottles and part-used vials.
     • Check the pending queue for doses awaiting sign-off.
     • Check today's billing and consults for uncaptured charges.
6. From the investigate step, either:
   • Click Recount to go back and enter a corrected count (say you found that part-used vial), or
   • Click Accept and reconcile to write the reconciling stock-check entry — the register balance moves to match your physical count.

Adjust stock

Usually: vet only

Use this to reconcile the register to a physical count, or to fix an opening balance you got wrong. It writes a finalised entry straight away (no pending queue), and always needs a reason.

Step by step

1. Click the three-dot menu (⋯) → Adjust stock.
2. Choose the Drug.
3. Choose the Direction — Increase or Decrease.
4. Enter the Quantity.
5. Type a Reason (for example "Stock check discrepancy").
6. Type your PIN — see PIN sign-off.
7. Click Record adjustment.

Review the reconciliation summary

Usually: vet or admin

This is a quick per-drug summary over a date range — useful for copying figures into the paper register you're keeping alongside Wattle.

Step by step

1. Open the Reports tab.
2. Scroll to Reconciliation.
3. Set From and To dates (it defaults to the last 7 days).
4. The table shows, per drug: In, Out, Net (the change) and Closing balance.

---

Destroying or wasting drugs

Everyday wastage — the syringe-hub leftovers from a normal dose — is captured on the billing charge itself (see the Wastage note near the top of this page) or with a hand-added Wastage entry. Destruction is the formal disposal of actual stock: expired bottles, unwanted supplies, surrendered drugs.

Record a destruction

Usually: vet only

Step by step

1. Click the Destruction button at the top right of the register.
2. Choose the Drug, enter the Quantity and type a Reason (for example "Expired stock").
3. Record the Method (for example "Denatured in kitty litter") and Place (for example "At the clinic"). Some states require both on the record — filling them in is always good practice.
4. Choose your witness — one is always required, and there are two kinds:
   • External witness (the default) — a pharmacist, police officer or health inspector who doesn't have a Wattle account. Enter their name, witness class and registration number (required for a pharmacist), then hand them the mouse or touchscreen to draw their signature in the signature box (always required), and tick the declaration that they're not your spouse, relative or de facto partner. Their signature is sealed into the register's tamper-evident record.
   • Staff member — another vet at your clinic, picked from a list. The witnessing vet types their own PIN into the Witness PIN boxes — that's their countersignature, so don't type it for them.
5. Type your PIN as the recording vet.
6. Click the red Record destruction button.

Record a loss or damage

Usually: vet only

Sometimes stock leaves the safe without being given, destroyed or wasted in the normal way — a vial gets dropped, an ampoule goes missing, or a drawn-up dose never gets given. This is what the Loss or damage action is for. There are three types:

• Loss — unexplained, spilled or stolen. The quantity comes off the balance.
• Damage — a broken ampoule or container. Also comes off the balance.
• Return unused to stock — a dose was drawn up but the patient refused (or died) before it was given, and it went back into the safe intact. This one goes back onto the balance, and asks for the patient the dose was drawn for.

Step by step

1. Click the three-dot menu (⋯) → Loss or damage.
2. Choose the Type (loss, damage, or return unused to stock).
3. Choose the Drug and enter the Quantity.
4. Type a Reason (for example "Vial dropped" or "Patient refused after draw-up").
5. If another vet saw it happen, pick them as the Witness — they type their own PIN as their countersignature. (Optional, but see the breakage note below.)
6. Type your PIN and click Record.

After you record a loss (or an unwitnessed damage), Wattle doesn't just file the entry — a Report this loss screen tells you who the loss must be reported to in your state, how soon, and whether the police need to know (always, for suspected theft). Where your state has an online form, an Open the reporting form button takes you straight there. The register entry is already saved at this point — the reporting is the extra legal duty on top.

---

PIN sign-off

The register actions that matter always take a 4-digit PIN — so a sign-off is tied to the person who actually did it, not just to whoever's login was on screen. Every user already has a PIN (you set it at first sign-in — see Your PIN & the lock screen); the register puts it to work. There's no switch — it's simply how the register works.

• Processing entries (single or batch), stock adjustments and destructions ask for the acting vet's PIN before they'll save. The PIN is checked on the server, against the same 5-attempts-then-15-minute lockout as the lock screen — and every attempt is audit-logged.
• Batch processing takes one PIN entry — type it once and it covers the whole run.
• On a destruction with a staff witness, the witnessing vet types their own PIN as the countersignature.
• The register asks for your PIN the first time you open it each session — after that you stay unlocked while you work and move around the app. It re-asks only after 15 quiet minutes or when you sign in again. Type your PIN in the "Confirm it’s you" window to carry on — or just navigate anywhere else to leave.

---

Knowing the register hasn't been tampered with

A controlled-drug register is only trustworthy if you can prove it hasn't been quietly altered after the fact. Wattle checks this for you and tells you the result on the Reports tab — you don't have to ask for it.

• All good (the usual): a small, quiet grey line reads "Register integrity verified — the finalised ledger is intact and unaltered." This is the everyday state. You can carry on as normal; it's just reassurance.
• Something looks wrong (rare): if the check ever finds the finalised ledger has been altered, a prominent red alert appears instead, headed Register integrity check failed, explaining "The finalised ledger appears to have been altered… This is a legal record — do not make further entries and contact support immediately."

---

Fixing mistakes in the finalised record

You can't edit or delete a finalised entry — that's what keeps the register trustworthy. Instead, you record a correction, which adds a new reversing entry linked to the original.

Correct a finalised entry

Usually: vet only

Step by step

1. In the Finalised ledger card, find the entry.
2. If it can be corrected (it isn't already corrected and isn't itself a correction), a Correct button shows on the right.
3. Click Correct.
4. Type a Reason (for example "Wrong quantity entered").
5. Click Record correction.

A new reversing entry is added, the original keeps its place untouched, and the balance returns to what it was before the original entry.

---

Reports and exporting

Generate a statutory report

Usually: vet or admin

Step by step

1. Open the Reports tab.
2. In the Report dropdown, choose how to slice it:
   • By date — everything in the period.
   • By drug — grouped by medicine.
   • By patient — which animals received what.
   • By supplier — where stock came in from.
   • By authorised person — who finalised each entry.
3. If you keep pentobarbital, a Register dropdown appears — choose Both registers, Schedule 8 register, or Pentobarbital register to print one register on its own.
4. Set From and To dates (defaults to the last 30 days).
5. The table updates on screen.
6. Click Download PDF for a print-ready report on your clinic's letterhead, or Export CSV for a spreadsheet file.

The PDF shows the same entries as the table — reference number, date and time, drug, movement, wastage and running balance — plus your chosen slice (patient, supplier or finalised-by) as its own column, and a "Generated … by …" line so an inspector can see exactly when and by whom the copy was produced. When you pick a single register, the PDF is titled for it (e.g. "Pentobarbital register — …") so the two registers print as clearly separate documents.

View one drug's register

Usually: anyone

Every drug on the Current balances card has a View register link. It opens that single drug's register page — every entry in date order, oldest first, with the running balance carried down the page (the classic "one page per drug" view), the drug's current balance up top, and its own Download PDF for a standalone printout of just that drug. Handy when an inspector asks to see one medicine, or when you're reconciling a single drug's history.

Print the current balances

Usually: anyone

The Current balances card on the Register tab has its own Download PDF button — a one-page snapshot of every controlled drug's balance right now (with a Safe column if you run more than one safe), each with when its last movement was finalised. The law expects you to be able to produce the register on the spot, electronically and printed; this is the printed half, one click away.

Print a destruction record

Usually: anyone

Every destruction in the finalised ledger can be printed as a standalone, single-page record — useful for your compliance folder or when an inspector asks for the paperwork on a specific disposal.

Step by step

1. In the Finalised ledger card, find the destruction entry (type Destruction).
2. Click the Record button on the right of the row.
3. A PDF downloads with the full particulars: drug, quantity, date and time, method, place, reason, the recording vet, the witness's details — and the entry's tamper-evidence hash.

What the witness section shows depends on how the destruction was witnessed:

• External witness who signed on screen → their drawn signature is printed on the record, with their class and registration number.
• External witness with no on-screen signature (for example an entry recorded before on-screen signing existed) → the record says so plainly and asks the witness to sign the printed copy instead.
• Staff witness → the record notes they countersigned with their own PIN.

Wet-ink signature lines for both the recording vet and the witness are always printed at the bottom, so any hard copy can be countersigned on paper if your workflow (or your state) wants it.

---

Settings, safes and the audit log

Day-to-day work lives on the Schedule 8 page. The setup, safes and the audit trail live under Settings → Schedule 8 (you can also reach it from the three-dot menu on the register, under Settings).

Set the default wastage

Usually: vet or admin

In the Wastage card, set the clinic's default wastage per injection (in the drug's base unit, e.g. mL). This pre-fills the Wastage box on every injectable controlled-drug charge in billing — staff can still change it per charge. Set it to your typical hub/dead-space loss; leave it at 0 if you'd rather type wastage each time.

Add or retire a drug safe

Usually: vet only

Most clinics run a single "Main safe" and never touch this. If you have a second one (say a vehicle/ambulatory safe), you can add it.

Step by step

1. Go to Settings → Schedule 8 (or three-dot menu → Settings).
2. In the Safes card, type a Safe name (e.g. "Vehicle safe") and an optional Location.
3. Click Add.
4. To retire a safe, click the small trash icon next to it.

Knowing when a stock check is due

Usually: anyone, for reference

The Stock checks due count on the Register tab's summary cards tracks each drug against your state's counting cadence (for example, QLD is monthly; NSW is on the calendar dates the regulation sets). The clock for a drug starts at its last physical count — a stock check, or the opening balance you entered when the register began — so a freshly set-up register is never instantly "due". When the count is above zero, run one with the Stock check button at the top of the register.

Wattle reads the state from your clinic's address (Settings → Clinic) — worth setting, because the stock-check cadence, destruction-witness rules and loss-reporting details all key off it.

Nominate a responsible person

Usually: vet or practice owner

In Settings → Schedule 8, the Responsible person card records who approves the register's use at your practice and reviews access and the audit trail — usually the practice owner or principal vet. Pick them from the dropdown. It's a record, not a permission — it doesn't change what anyone can do in the app, it answers the inspector's question "who is responsible for this register?"

View the audit log

Usually: vet or admin

The Audit log card (also under Settings → Schedule 8) records who did what and when across the register — for example "Ledger entry finalised", "Pending entry captured" or "Controlled drug added". Use the search box to filter.

There's a fuller explanation of how logging works across Wattle in The audit log.

---

Who can do what

Roles aren't a wall — they're just sensible defaults. If a button is missing, it's usually because your role doesn't include that action (no error, it's simply hidden).

Can't see a button you expected? Your account may not have permission — ask whoever set up your clinic. See Your team & permissions.

---

Quick recap

• Pending entries don't touch the official record until a vet signs off — and until then anyone can fix or discard them (audit-logged).
• Wastage rides on the billing charge — given + wasted leave the register as one movement; the client only pays for the given amount.
• Mistakes are fixable — pending entries by editing; finalised entries by correction or adjustment, never by erasing.
• Destructions carry a real witness — a pharmacist/police/inspector signing on screen, or a staff vet countersigning with their PIN (where your state allows it — the form adapts). Any destruction can be printed later as a standalone record.
• Losses, breakages and returned doses have their own path — the Loss or damage action records them properly, and after a loss Wattle shows you exactly who to report it to in your state.
• The summary cards keep score — pending sign-offs, discrepancies and drugs due for a stock check under your state's cadence, right at the top of the Register tab.
• The bell keeps watch too — a stock adjustment or a stock-check discrepancy from the last fortnight shows up as a notification, so whoever reviews the register hears about the unusual events without having to go looking.
• The register prints on demand — PDF register reports, a current-balances snapshot and per-destruction records, all one click away on your clinic letterhead.
• Your PIN is your signature — the register asks for it on first entry each session, processing/adjustments/destructions always take it, and 15 quiet minutes on the register re-checks it.
• The register checks itself — a quiet "integrity verified" line on the Reports tab means all is well; a red alert means stop and contact support. The Register tab still flags any controlled-drug charge that was billed but never captured, so you can add it.
• It's built to the legal standard, but keep your existing records too — until Wattle formally takes on the official-register claim (it'll be announced).

Related: The catalogue & prices · The audit log · Your team & permissions · Glossary