Log my Care vs Person Centred Software: Which is the best care management platform for your service users?

How is Log my Care different from Person Centred Software (PCS)?

• Caters to a wide range of care types and services
• Transparent about product, services, and pricing
• 24/7 online support hub for easy, ongoing assistance  
• Intuitive user experience that requires minimal training
• Continuous improvements based on customer feedback

Log my Care vs Person Centred Software: Overview

Person Centred Software (PCS) is known for being a legacy care management system, with over 10 years in the industry. Based on 35 reviews, it has 4.0/5 stars on Google. The platform is available on desktop and mobile, and they also offer a digital reception system that operates on tablets.

In terms of care delivery, PCS offers an all-in-one solution to increase efficiency in a care service, like a lot of similar care software.

Log my Care is the most intuitive, user-friendly care platform. With 4.7/5 stars on Google, based on 348 reviews, it’s a newer and more modern platform that uses customer feedback to continuously improve its platform and ensure it is truly able to meet industry needs.  

Log my Care offers an online dashboard through a web browser and an app, empowering care teams to improve their oversight and impact. This allows them to spend more time on their service users whilst reducing administrative work.  

Let’s take a closer look at what both platforms offer.  

Log my Care vs Person Centred Software: Main differences  

Suitable types of care  

PCS cater to multiple types of care, including:

• Residential care
• Nursing homes
• Learning disabilities
• Retirement living
• Domiciliary care
• Mental health support

Log my Care offers services to a wider range, and is suitable for providers within:

• Learning disabilities
• Residential care
• Nursing homes
• Domiciliary care
• Supported living
• Live-in care
• Retirement villages
• Personal health budgets
• Case management

Suitable care provider size and location

Both Log my Care and PCS provide services to care organisations of all sizes.  

PCS can provide more international flexibility to non-UK care providers and a broader range of offerings, including their digital reception product and nursecall messaging service.

Log my Care currently operates in the UK, with some exceptions depending on circumstances. It is proud to be able to offer more focus to both larger and smaller providers. It encourages accessibility within the care industry, whilst being able to help organisations scale as they grow.  

Set up and training

Like Log my Care, PCS offers training sessions to help you onboard and get the most out of the care management platform.  

PCS has a lot more features and its user interface is more complex. This means more training is required to understand the system before you can figure out how to use it. Because of this, it can get quite overwhelming – especially if you don’t need all the additional features.

Log my Care’s system is so easy to use, minimal training is required to get care teams started. Over 70% of users feel comfortable using Log my Care in less than a week.  

“Log my Care is very customer focused. The software itself is very logically organised and thorough. The user interface is beautifully done, and the staff find it extremely easy to use. The app is also the best I have seen, I simply cannot understand how PCS do not even give staff easy access to the actual care plans on their devices. Log My Care does, and more.”

- T. Sanderson, Director at Crimson Care  

Log my Care’s key features

1. Add Risk Assessments to Care Plans  

Choose to add relevant risk assessments to care plans for added convenience and to keep carers updated with client information.

2. Add photos and videos to Electronic Logs

Simply tap away to generate logs with full sentences, and add additional comments, pictures or videos to include more details of care delivery.

3. Create specific service user goals with actionable plans  

Set specific goals which you can link to care plans and logs and create action plans based on progress and individual care needs.

More Log my Care features  

• eMAR  
• Outcomes and goals  
• Handovers  
• Tasks  
• Family portal
• Body maps  
• Reports and charts  
• Noticeboard  
• Consent management with digital signatures  

All Log my Care features are available in both the Carer App and the Care Office for increased communication and oversight.  

PCS features  

• eMAR
• Goal tracking and outcomes
• Care plans  
• Assessments  
• Relatives gateway
• Digital reception
• Body maps (exclusive to website)  
• Reports and trends
• Messaging service

Person Centred Software doesn’t allow carers to fully be able to access care plans and doesn’t allow you to assign photos to specific service users. Log my Care easily links photo evidence to service users, and also has a video option.

Many of PCS’s features are exclusive to their desktop version, like body maps and accident and incident reports. Log my Care’s features are available in both the app and desktop versions.

Log my Care vs Person Centred Software (PCS): Pricing

PCS requires you to book a demo or get in touch to find out more about their pricing and get started with their platform. Offering online and on-site demos, they have paid plans and live chat and phone support available.  

Depending on your needs, PCS can be quite expensive as they have several products, with additional costs for setting up.  

Log my Care’s set up costs depend on your plan and needs but are nowhere near as costly if you choose to pay for onboarding. It doesn’t require card details to get started with a trial, and offers a free Starter plan because its mission is to make person-centred technology accessible to everybody in social care.  

By being transparent with pricing, Log my Care makes it easier to choose the right care management platform for you, and sign up with confidence.

Log my Care’s minimum contract length is 1 month, while PCS has no upfront information around their minimum contract length – which can lead to some unexpected cancellation notices if your contract terms were not mutually agreed. For example, if you’ve been using PCS for more than 6 months, their terms and conditions specify that you may not be able to terminate your contract without giving 12 months’ notice.

Log my Care Pricing

Log my Care’s pricing is based on your number of active service users, plus any paid add-ons you choose to include in your plan.  

All Log my Care plans include the Self-service support hub and no setup fees, while the two paid plans also include product training and 24/7 support.  

Log my Care’s Starter plan

All the benefits of digitising your care records, plus:

• Ability to monitor clients and teams, set reminders, and schedule tasks for better organisation.
• Monitor COVID, record incidents, and maintain accurate electronic logs with time stamps for safety and record management.
• Control device access, generate reports, manage tasks, and enhance data security and insights.

Log my Care’s Pro plan

All the benefits of Starter, plus:

• Team alerts, support digital signatures, and view read receipts, while notifying staff with a digital noticeboard for easier management.
• Assist with service user care, risk assessments, and staff training using body maps, care plans, risk assessments, templates, and training management tools.
• Enhance efficiency and compliance through features like consent management, device access control, handovers, offline access, and document storage.

For 10 service users, the Pro plan starts from £100/month.

Log my Care’s Outstanding plan

All the benefits of Pro, plus:

• Have more access options, switch between sites on one dashboard, and easily activate or deactivate differently sites.
• Keep an eye on outcomes, goals, and site reports, and compare how well different sites are doing.

• Easily move clients between sites to manage them more efficiently.

Log my Care’s optional add-ons

• eMar to reduce medication errors and effectively log it.
• Family portal to keep friends and family updated.

Why owners and managers are switching from Person Centred Software to Log my Care  

Accurately recording and quickly finding relevant client information is crucial when it comes to providing quality care. This is why regulators like the Care Quality Commission (CQC) encourage using digital social care records like Log my Care and PCS.  

With an intuitive platform, minimal training needed, and flexible pricing options, Log my Care’s accessibility allows teams of all sizes to modernise their services in ways that PCS doesn’t cater for.  

PCS’s support team can be difficult to reach, and customer feedback about the product is rarely implemented, with updates to the app sometimes taking years. Log my Care continuously implements user feedback on a more regular basis to ensure that the product stays intuitive and helpful to care teams.

Switching from Person Centred Software to Log my Care  

Hayley Holland, Quality Assurance Director at Rose Care Group, said: "The newly-acquired services that we took over already had PCS as a system, so we used it to see which was the better platform. I found PCS to be quite convoluted, quite repetitive, and a lot less user friendly. Log my Care was the easiest out of all the platforms we’ve used so far. It's easier to extract, record, and read data."  

Watch the full case study about Rose Care Group switching from Person Centred Software to Log my Care.

Gain hours back

‍Industry research has shown that 63% of care teams reported that digital tools save them up to 30 hours per week, and it’s no different with Log my Care. See how much time you could save with our time-saving calculator.  

Intuitive user experience

Designed alongside carers and managers, Log my Care was made to provide modern technology for all care providers to easily deliver quality care, with more consistency.

Stress-free support

After initial training, Log my Care users benefit from 24/7 support within our system, ready to help you within 5 minutes. Users also have access to our support hub, where they can find helpful articles from our team.  

Flexible, scalable plans

Customers who experience an increase or decrease in service users can upgrade their plans to better suit their needs, without compromising on quality and overall impact.

Michael Forster, Registered Manager at Park House Rest Home, said: “I’d previously used Person Centred Software (PCS) in a previous role and found it expensive, with limited options to tailor the software to fit the needs of my service. When I started at Park House, I knew it was time give another platform a go.”  

Read the full case study on how Park House Rest Home switched from PCS to Log my Care.  

Impress during inspections

By being able to evidence care efficiently, Log my Care helps customers improve their inspection processes.  

BP Khanal, Corporate Strategy Manager at BIRA Care Homes, said: “We recently had an inspection from the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW), and the feedback we had from the inspector was great. This was probably the strictest inspector we’ve had in a while, and he gave us very positive feedback about Log my Care.”  

Read the full case study about why BIRA Care Homes chose Log my Care instead of PCS to go from paper to digital.

Log my Care vs Person Centred Software: Data compliance and integrations

Dealing with sensitive information is a given in the care industry, and both Log my Care and Person Centred Software handle client and care staff data with extra precautionary measures in place.  

Data compliance  

Log my Care’s cyber security measures include:

• Being GDPR compliant  
• Being Cyber Essentials Plus certified  
• Being NHS DSPT (Data Security and Protection Toolkit) certified
• Having device access control  
• Having a PIN-protected app
• Having shift passwords

PCS’s cyber security measures for their digital care system include:

• Being GDPR compliant
• Being Cyber Essentials Plus certified  
• Being NHS DSPT (Data Security and Protection Toolkit) certified
• Having device management through IP and location restrictions
• Requiring secure passwords

Integrations

To enable more flexibility in how care is delivered, Person Centred Software currently offer more integrations than Log my Care.

Log my Care integrates with PainChek, and PCS integrates with:

• PainChek  
• Autumna
• Aquatime/Smart cups
• CoolCare
• Comentis
• CLB
• Cliniconex
• And more

Log my Care vs Person Centred Software: Key Takeaways

Which care management platform is the best depends on the goals of your organisation and the needs of your care team.  

Although things can change and there is no right or wrong, it’s important to consider these differences to be able to make the right choice and investment for yourself.  

Log my Care is a great, cost-effective choice if you want a platform that is user-friendly and easy for staff to adopt within a week. It is also suitable for care providers offering services in supported living, and makes it easier to optimise daily care processes and manage multiple sites.

On top of being intuitive, it is also scalable and can be adapted to your organisation if your needs change as you evolve––all of which is why providers of all sizes choose Log my Care. As mentioned, Person Centred Software will be expensive, with extra costs for setting up and additional costs for most integrations compared to Log my Care.

Person Centred Software requires more extensive training that may be time-consuming for staff to get used to. Considered a market leader, over 5000 care providers use PCS. Their logs are quite heavily icon-driven and require a lot of carer training to get to grips with as they aren’t the most person-centred. However, they offer strong reporting and trends analysis, eMAR, and multiple add-ons. If you need a wider range of integrations, Person Centred Software could also be more helpful as it has over ten different integrations to assist in your care delivery.  

Ready to improve your impact?