AI Smart Care Home System to improve quality of residential care

Aston University has partnered with dementia care provider Lee Mount Healthcare (LMH) to create an AI-powered ‘Smart Care Home’ system aimed at improving the quality of care for residents. 

The project will use machine learning to develop an intelligent system that can automate routine tasks and compliance reporting.

It will also draw on multiple sources of resident data, including health metrics, care needs and personal preferences, to inform care decisions, create individualised care plans and provide easy access to updates for residents’ next of kin.

More than half of social care providers in the UK still retain manual and paper-based approaches to care management and it is hoped that the Smart Care Home system will allow for better care to be provided at a lower cost, freeing up staff from administrative tasks.

Manjinder Boo Dhiman, director of LMH, said: “As a company, we’ve always focused on innovation and breaking barriers, and this KTP builds on many years of progress towards digitisation.

“We hope by taking the next step into AI, we’ll also help to improve the image of the care sector and overcome stereotypes, to show that we are forward thinking and can attract the best talent.”

The project, funded by Innovate UK, is a collaboration between a business, a university and a highly qualified research associate – known as a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).

For specialist AI expertise to develop the smart system, LMH is joining forces with the Aston Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Application (ACAIRA) at Aston University.

The centre’s aim is to develop AI-based solutions to address critical social, health, and environmental challenges, delivering transformational change with industry partners at regional, national and international levels.

Dr Roberto Alamino, lecturer in applied AI and robotics with the School of Computer Science and Digital Technologies at Aston University and member of ACAIRA, said: “The challenges of this KTP are both technical and human in nature.

“For practical applications of machine learning, it’s important to establish a common language between us as researchers and the users of the technology we are developing.

“We need to fully understand the problems they face so we can find feasible, practical solutions.”

Dr Alamina will lead the KTP project and will be joined in research by Dr Harry Goldingay, senior lecturer in computer science at Aston’s School of Computer Science and Digital Technologies and fellow ACAIRA member.

Meanwhile, in May 2025 it was reported that CareBrain, an AI-powered support app for carers, was trialled by at-home and domiciliary care provider Trinity Homecare.

The app is designed to support carers in real-time by answering care-related questions, assisting with training and providing immediate access to key information.