Patching best practice

Hi People,

We patch Linux servers every month, Dev/Test servers on the First week of the month and let the system run for a week (to observe issues) and then patch prod and the subsequent week on DR servers.

In the recent case, The patches were updated on Dev/Test and observed the system for a week and then applied the patch on prod next week, when the team update the patches on prod there were some additional updates got in which was not installed really in dev/test that created trouble.

What is the easy way to update the patches with the updates available as on some particular date to prod?

Please note, we automated the patch installation through the satellite server.

And please share the what is the best practice for linux patching.

Cheers
Salai