This guide is for couriers delivering on behalf of pharmacies, clinics, wholesalers and laboratories in the UK. It describes good record-keeping practice. It is not regulatory advice: your client holds the regulatory obligations for what you carry, so their procedures come first, and the official guidance linked below is the authority.
Why do records matter more for medical deliveries?
Because the consequences of a lost or misdelivered item are worse, and because your client may have to account for it. A missed prescription can mean a patient goes without medicine. A delayed sample may have to be taken again. A parcel left with the wrong person can expose someone’s health information. When something goes wrong, your client will ask you for an exact account, and a clear record is the difference between an answer and an argument.
What does the guidance expect of the people you deliver for?
Different regulators cover different items:
- Pharmacies delivering to patients follow the General Pharmaceutical Council’s guidance on services at a distance. Its February 2025 version expects the pharmacy to show how delivery risks are managed, including that the package is tracked and monitored to make sure it reaches the right person, that the carrier’s terms are checked and that third-party providers are monitored.
- Medicines distribution above pharmacy level is regulated by the MHRA under good distribution practice: medicines come from the licensed supply chain and are stored, transported and handled in suitable conditions, and inspectors look at transport arrangements and temperature monitoring.
- Diagnostic samples classed as UN3373, Category B, follow the carriage of dangerous goods rules. GOV.UK guidance sets out how they must be packed and marked under Packing Instruction P650; classification is the consignor’s responsibility.
- Controlled drugs carry legal requirements of their own, overseen by the Home Office.
You are rarely the one regulated, but you are often the evidence that your client met these expectations.
What should you record for every medical delivery?
A conservative minimum, to adapt with your client:
| When | What to record |
|---|---|
| Collection | Time; who handed the item over; number of items; condition and any seal or bag reference |
| In transit | Which driver had it; the route; any stop where it left the driver’s control |
| Handover | Time; recipient’s name and relationship to the patient or addressee; signature; photo of the item; location |
| Exceptions | Failed attempts with time, place and reason; damage; returns to the sender |
| Conditions | Any temperature record your client requires, from their equipment |
Record the actual times, captured automatically if you can, rather than written later.
How do you make sure an item reaches the right person?
This is the point the GPhC guidance stresses, and the one most often skipped under time pressure:
- Do not leave medicines unattended unless your client’s procedures allow it for that item.
- Record who received it, and their relationship to the patient: the patient, a carer, a family member, care home staff.
- Use a confirmation step for sensitive items. A one-time code the recipient gives the driver, or a check of name against the delivery, makes “it was not me” disputes rare.
- Check location. Compare where the driver was at the handover with the delivery address.
How should you handle failed deliveries?
Record the attempt with the time, the place and the reason, and tell the recipient straight away so they are not waiting in. Return the item according to your client’s procedures, and record that return too. A delivery history that shows every attempt is far more useful than one that only shows the final outcome.
What should you agree with your client before you start?
Medical clients each have their own procedures, so write down the answers to these questions before the first delivery:
- Which items may be left unattended, if any, and where?
- Who may receive an item on the patient’s behalf?
- Is a signature, a code or an identity check required at the door?
- Which items need temperature control, and whose equipment records it?
- What happens to an item that cannot be delivered, and how quickly must it be returned?
- What records do they want from you, in what format, and how long must you keep them?
Then make your drivers’ process match the answers on every drop, and review them when the client changes its procedures.
How do you protect patients’ information?
Delivery records for medicines may reveal something about a person’s health, which UK data protection law treats as special category data. Practical steps:
- Keep item descriptions on labels, messages and tracking pages generic, such as “Pharmacy order”.
- Do not show recipients’ details on public tracking pages.
- Limit who in your business can see delivery records.
- Agree how long records are kept and delete them afterwards.
Where does Track That Ride fit?
Track That Ride helps you keep a timestamped record of each handover: arrival at and departure from the pickup, the route, the recipient’s name and relationship, photos, a signature, an optional one-time code, the GPS position and time, and failed attempts with a reason. It does not record temperature, does not check packaging and does not make your service compliant with any regulation. See medical courier tracking, pharmacy delivery tracking and lab sample courier tracking.