A £1.64 million digital platform that could save the crisis-hit home care industry millions a year is being developed by a Hampshire university.

Researchers at the University of Southampton, local technology company NquiringMinds and Southampton City Council are working on a website and set of apps that could make the care industry more efficient.

The CareShare platform is aimed at tailoring care contracts more closely to individual need and making better use of 'unpaid carers.'

Home care services – designed to help people with care requirements continue living in their own home – are worth £4.62 billion a year in the UK, but researchers say that a combination of increasing demand, dwindling state funding and staff retention issues means some care companies are struggling to deliver services to the expected standards profitably.

And researchers add that according to the latest annual report by the United Kingdom Homecare Association, 50 per cent of providers have refused to tender for local authority care contracts because of financial pressures.

But support organisation Carers UK recently estimated that the contribution of unpaid carers – such as family members, friends, neighbours and charities – was worth £132 billion a year, making them the largest provider in economic terms.

The CareShare project, funded by Innovate UK and led by NquiringMinds, aims to address these issues by integrating the unpaid sector with the professional sector, and using a dynamic “find-a-carer” app and website to commission care in smaller units as opposed to long-term contracts.

It will use a set of mobile apps to share data through cloud and web-based services and offer key features such as the ability to share basic notes between professional and unpaid carers; coordinating visits so that everyone does not turn up on the same day; and a rating system to help monitor care quality.

Southampton University's Professor AbuBakr Bahaj, said: “We jointly developed this project to address the challenges faced by the care industry by bringing together local authorities, industry and academic expertise. As well as being of major benefit to the home care industry, it has the potential to expand its approach to other challenges in society, such as mobility, employability and training.”

Nick Allott, CEO of NquiringMinds, based at University of Southampton Science Park, added: “We believe that technology has a crucial role to play in delivering more efficient care services. Sharing data between citizens and organisations will be the key to fully engaging the community in this growing problem.”

Sandra Jerrim, lead commissioner for adult social care at Southampton city council, said: “We are keen to explore the use of care technology as a key enabler in the delivery of health and social care, and are excited to be working with Care Share and NquiringMinds to see where this innovation can help release capacity, create efficiency and provide individuals with greater choice.”