Could Jersey's 'Call&Check' postie scheme be on its way to Canada?

Wednesday 01 February 2023

A scheme first launched in Jersey which sees postal workers check up on vulnerable people could be on its way to Canada.

Canada's National Institute on Ageing (NIA) has published a policy White Paper recommending the adoption of the Jersey Post-devised Call&Check scheme.

The Call&Check service was originally developed by Jersey Post employee Joe Dickinson in 2012 and involves posties checking up on the vulnerable people they would usually visit during their rounds to help them live at home independently for longer.

Visits can last up to five minutes during which postal workers might deliver prescriptions, remind clients of any upcoming medical appointments and ask about their health and wellbeing. 

Pictured: The Call&Check system has postal workers check up on vulnerable people during their rounds. 

More recently, Jersey Post also joined up with the Government of Jersey's vaccination team to help people book vaccination appointments and co-ordinate transportation to vaccination centres. 

Since the scheme was launched in 2013, Jersey’s posties have made 79,867 official visits.

Now, in a paper entitled ‘How Canadian Postal Workers Could Better Enable Ageing in the Right Place', The NIA thinktank has recommended the scheme be adopted by Canada Post, Canada's primary postal operator. 

Following recommendations from the Canadian Parliament that Canada Post needed to find new “innovative revenue schemes”, the NIA reviewed three prominent international models of postal community care services from Jersey, France and Japan to form part of a case study.

The paper found that Jersey's Call&Check model would be an "ideal fit" with the Canadian Postal Service, as the similarities between Jersey and Canada’s Postal Services would not require “radically altering” Canada Post's existing staffing structure.

Pictured: The NIA's paper said that Jersey's Call&Check system would be an "ideal" fit for Canada Post.

One benefit with Call&Check concerns the level of intrusion expected by Postal workers in Jersey and Canada.

The report noted that “Canadian Law stipulates that postal workers cannot enter a client’s home" and that "similar expectations of postal workers in Jersey make Call&Check considerably more feasible for the Canadian context than the French and Japanese models of service which can involve far more intrusion on a client’s property.” 

Canada’s largest circulation newspaper - the ‘Toronto Star’ – also recently published an article on the report and its recommendation of Call&Check.

Joe Dickinson described the development as “exciting", adding: "...We’ve heard from the NIA that everyone seems to be excited about the report and that it has gotten a great response from coast to coast in Canada… I think this will be a trigger for other Postal Services to take note.” 

Pictured: The NIA's paper will be reviewed by the Canadian Parliament. 

Joe also revealed that a Canadian film crew will be arriving in Jersey on 9 February to make a short documentary on the Call&Check service.

Joe explained that the paper will be go on to be reviewed by the Canadian Parliament.

He did note, however, that it may take some time before anything more concrete happens: “Postal services tend to have a long period of getting somewhere, so there is likely to be lots of conversations over months and months.”