Why LifeCare made the decision to switch to Person Centred Software

What also makes Person Centred Software a much better partner for us is the sheer number of integrated products that make up the Connected Care Platform. While we found that mCare was far better for us when it came to implementing a digital care planning system, having access to other products such as the Wellbeing & Activities Platform as well as ATLAS eMAR means that our vision of a full continuum of care extends to the digital tools and solutions we use to provide that care.   

Person Centred Software have often said that their goal is to grow with us as a partner, not just a provider, and in practice I have had the opportunity to see that with the Connected Care Platform, which provides solutions for every different aspect of care management, they are following through with that promise and achieving that goal. In the past we have found ourselves often dealing with disparate strands of software that don’t really connect properly with one another, where nothing talks to each other, and where double entries and admin-heavy tasks often take up a huge amount of time. But now PCS has become our everything.  

One of the biggest factors in deciding to move away from our previous software was that we wanted a system that could do everything we wanted it to do; the features of mCare provide solutions to every conceivable issue or challenge that could arise in the provision of care.  

However, if I had to pick one feature above all else that I think swayed our decision, it was the fact that mCare was and is the most clinically sound system on the market. Everything just seems to make sense when you use it because the resident journey flows in a very logical way, which is a huge benefit to care staff. For example, when someone is admitted you do the risk assessments first followed by the care plan and then you do your reviews, and even just the process of moving someone through that system was so much more seamless than anything else we’d seen on the market – there was nothing that even come close to mCare.  

One of the biggest selling points for us was the use of the Icon-Driven Interface because it not only allowed care staff to record care notes quickly and accurately, but it was also a huge benefit to staff for whom English might not have been their first language or those who struggled writing in long sentences. Having the clickable icons in the system meant that we were getting a far greater amount of evidence of interaction than I think we would have been able to record otherwise.   

From my perspective, all of the integrations in mCare have been enormously helpful in providing a full continuum of care for us – for example we’ve found GP Connect to be so helpful in that it helps us share and view GP records quickly and efficiently in a way that was never possible before, but one other feature that really stands out for me, quite simply, is the design.  

Before we had mCare at Somerleigh Court, we’d often find with their previous system, that an admission and getting all the documentation in place to process an admission could sometimes take upwards of a month. This was largely because we found ourselves having to write the same information in a number of different places – for example we would have to write largely the same information in a resident profile, then a care plan, then in an assessment. Whereas because with mCare, every part of the system talks to each other, that process goes from over a month to about a week.   

In my view, whenever someone asks me for some advice on the process of either going digital or switching to a different system, I always say the same thing: you’ve just got to commit to it!   

I think that it’s often the case that too many providers try and hold a difficult balance between running a digital care planning system and still having some elements of their operations that are being done on paper. They might have some lingering folders hidden away somewhere in the offices that they still rely on. But I’d say you just have to commit, you must be all in, and drive that ethos that everything has to be done electronically because when and if care providers do go digital, no matter how daunting or challenging it might seem, and understandably so, the difference it makes to the ability to provide outstanding care outcomes is just night and day.   

No matter how difficult you think the transition might be, I promise you it’s worth it. Once you just commit to the new system, things will become much easier; until you finally decide to step off the ledge, as it were, it will feel harder than it actually is.  

For us, the ethos has been just that: we are committed to everything being done through Person Centred Software’s Connected Care Platform.