Call & Check developer to speak at Berlin long-term care conference

Saturday 04 November 2017

Joe Dickinson, development officer at Call & Check has been invited to speak at a prestigious long-term care conference in Berlin next week.

After hearing about the Call & Check initiative, a community care service that offers a daily checking provision, an EU official involved in the conference recommended Mr Dickinson to the organisers.

Mr Dickinson thought up the initiative after he recognised the unique relationship that postal workers have with their customers. Call & Check offers a daily checking provision for vulnerable individuals, by their local postal worker, whilst on their usual rounds. It aims to reduce health service spending by reducing the possibility of bed blocking and by assisting other care providers in helping elderly, isolated, vulnerable or disabled community members. Jersey Post helped develop the Call & Check scheme and remains involved as an investor in the project.

The annual conference, Berliner Pflegekonferenz, will focus on topics such as innovations in nursing practice, hygiene in outpatient and inpatient care and how social investment can help to improve care. There will also be a showcase of sponsored ‘lighthouse projects’, projects which may deliver ground-breaking solutions to evolving worldwide care problems alongside presentations on sponsored projects that are currently shaping the care sector in Europe.

The aim of the conference is to identify and discuss new concepts and services that can be practically applied to long term-care within European countries. Major health organisations and health insurance companies across Europe will be attending the conference. At the event, Mr Dickison will share his ideas and experiences of a programme that helps provide a lifeline to the more elderly, disabled and vulnerable in society.

This is not the first time Mr Dickinson has been invited to speak at events. Since he developed the Call & Check concept, he has been contacted by care organisations, scholars and researchers as well as media such as BBC World Service. There has been interest in the scheme from postal services and governments across the globe including the UK, US, Finland and Australia, with several jurisdictions poised to pilot the programme.

According to Mr Dickinson : "There is recognition that we as a society will need to innovate the way in which we deliver care in the home. Governments, health agencies and voluntary organisations around the world are recognising that the care sector needs to reform in order to deal with an ageing population.

"The ageing population is a global problem which the initiative of Call & Check addresses, to alleviate pressure on family members and help people stay in their homes for longer. Our service does not provide medical care or assistance, simply a familiar face that checks up on the more vulnerable islanders and who can raise concerns with the appropriate people and organisations that can help. I hope speaking at this event will spread the Call & Check message and enable us to help other jurisdictions with long-term care."