The award from the Department of Health and Social Care's Adult Social Care Technology Fund will support a project to help people manage their prescription medication schedules, symptoms and changes.

Andrew White, chief pharmacist for the ICB, said: 'We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded the funding to provide this 15-month project.

'As we introduce digital medication management and it becomes more routinely used and accepted by local people and providers, we will begin to see if these devices can empower people to take full responsibility for their medication, free capacity in the domiciliary care market and automate the process of medication delivery to ensure safety and quality of support.'

The project will evaluate whether using a technology-enabled smart medication device (or a digital dosage monitoring system) as part of a domiciliary care package will provide an effective and time-saving solution that will benefit the person receiving prescription medication, the domiciliary care market, the NHS and local authorities.

People will use the device for six to 12 weeks, based on how long they need to learn, and the project will ultimately support people to replace their in-person medication-only visits, with medication monitoring from a distance, with the aim of complete medication independence.

The project will be independently evaluated by the University of Lancaster.