Neighbourhood Assessment on Broughty Ferry Dundee - Essay Example

?Neighbourhood Assessment on Broughty ferry Dundee, Scotland Introduction The of the Scottish region known as Broughty Ferry is thought to have come from the Scottish Gaelic words for “Taybank” which are Bruach Tatha. Broughty Ferry is a community that is situated just at the centre of Dundee. Dundee is the fourth city in Scotland and is a community located on Britain’s east coast line. Dundee has approximately 144, 300 people. There are 59 public parks in Dundee and numerous leisure centers. The City has more than 30 hotels and various guesthouses with different themes (Scott 2003). Dundee also has numerous clubs and pubs that cater to the needs of its diverse student population as well as the local inhabitants (Day and Gentry 2012). The Dundee Repertory Theatre is Scotland’s only repertory theatre and is widely recognized for its exceptional productions. Other ordinary theatres in Dundee are the Gardyne Theatre, Whitehall Theatre, and The Little Theatre. The Scottish School of modern Dance is also located at Dundee College. The city regularly plays host to a various festivals such as the jazz, blues, flower, dance, and food festivals (Gifford 2012). However, this number gets boosted during learning seasons when students come to attend Dundee’s universities and college. Dundee is particularly famous for its celebrated universities that boast approximately 40,000 students (King 2011). The Dundee University, in particular, has been able to attract well known scientists to it faculty, who have contributed to world class research studies. In addition, the ‘Centre of Excellence’ which is located in the University of Abertay, is internationally considered as an authority in the education concerning computer games. Many young entrepreneurs have been attracted to Dundee by the reputations of its educational institutions, and thus there has been a lot of job creation in the sector concerned with computer games. Broughty Ferry actually sits on the northern shore of river Tay. Broughty Ferry is a leafy neighbourhood situated in Dundee, Scotland in Great Britain. Broughty Ferry has a population of approximately 13,155 persons (Hall 2003). This region’s population is mainly comprised of young families and the semi retired. Most of Broughty Ferry’s residents tend to reside in large semi-detached as well as detached homes located in the exclusive rural as well as suburban areas. Most of Broughty Ferry’s inhabitants have high disposable incomes because of their specialized skills in varied fields. Broughty Ferry was once a precinct for the jute barons of Dundee, and it was believed to be the home of some of the richest men in Europe. The numerous Victorian mansions that still dot its landscape are a testimony of that past era. The most famous attraction in Broughty Ferry is the Broughty Castle. This structure was constructed in the 1490s. It has been the centre of many disagreements about its true ownership. Between 1547 and 1550, it was occupied exclusively by the British (Hall 2003). Broughty Ferry has also functioned as a fishing port for a long time. Broughty Ferry’s ferry service to Tayport has been a vital connection between the ports of the east coast in the last few centuries. This was prior to the creation of the Tay Rail Bridge. In the course of the 19th Century, there was swift development in this area as a result of the establishment of the railway running through Arbroath and Dundee in 1838. The short standard train service between the Ferry and Dundee inspired residents to travel away in order to avoid the persistent smog that was the result of industrialization. During this period, the men who had grown wealthy from Dundee’s thriving jute industry began to build mansions in Broughty Ferry. Today, Broughty Ferry is a beautiful city with a scenic seafront, a harbour and an esplanade, and white sandy beaches. It has become quite popular with tourists and a wonderful place for sight-seers and walking enthusiasts. Broughty Ferry boasts a wide selection of four and five star hotels as well as restaurants and cafes. Broughty Ferry’s population is small for its size, and there is a warm community atmosphere fostered by the pleasantness of the local inhabitants. There are three main primary schools which are situated in Broughty Ferry. These include Forthill Primary School, Barnhill Primary School, and Eastern Primary School (Hall 2003). These three institutions were originally affiliated with the well known Grove Academy (Hall 2003). The Scotland 2001 Census The census conducted in Scotland in 2001 confirmed that 20 per cent of the Scottish population stated that they were the victims of a health issue, long-term sickness, or disability that affected their ability to carry out daily chores. This marked an increase of the number of Scottish citizens suffering from infirmity in the last census taken in 1991 (Hall 2003). The 2001 Census also called for residents to mention any problems they experienced with their health in the previous year (Hall 2003). From the responses to this question regarding the general health of the population in combination with household occupancy, the residents that mentioned ill health were those living in the more modest areas of Scotland (Smith 2003). One of the most amazing revelations to come out of the census concerned the function of carers. Approximately 10% of the adult Scottish population, which is accounts for nearly 480,000 people, stated that they regularly supplied some variety of unpaid care to a family member or spouse (Walsh 2004). The national health sector was quick to point out that it was likely that these figures did not cover all the carers in Scotland. It is probable that most of the carers in Scotland viewed their functions as health care givers of disabled members of their families as part of standard family support; this would explain why they did not readily identify themselves as unpaid care givers to the census-takers. Scotland’s census in 2001 disclosed that 63% of Scotland’s carers worked in this capacity for 20 every week (Walsh 2004). One of the weaknesses of the carers' statistics gathered in the 2001 Scottish Census is that the question groups might not capture the range of the duties involved in caring. This is due to the fact that the 1-19 hours group does not differentiate those caring for others over very few hours every week, and those who care for others for more than 16 hours every week on top of their regular jobs. A second reflection as concerns the Carer's Allowance can also be applied here. For carers to be entitled to collect the Carer’s Allowance, they have to be performing roughly 35 hours of unpaid care work every week for someone that needs a carer’s services. Dept of Health Statistics The residents of Scotland have the opportunity to benefit from a full and assorted choice of healthcare options that are available. These options include the National Health Service (NHS) as well as complementary medical practices. The National Health Service (NHS) was initiated more than half a century ago in order to supply free healthcare for all British citizens. The services catered for by the NHS include: Doctors Hospitalization Opticians Dentists The greater part of NHS provision is without charge, and any health care practices that are obtained on a private basis are directly paid for or recompensed through one of the many private healthcare insurance schemes. Healthcare Scotland is an example of a privatized scheme that focuses on supporting the health of Scottish citizens and lessening health inequalities. Instead of concentrating on particular facets of health, the Health Sector group functions in league with important organisations working in regional as well as national levels. This allows this institution to improve its abilities in handling issues to do with health inequalities. The objective of private health schemes such as Healthcare Scotland is to promote, support, and influence the critical health improvement function of the society as well as charitable health institutions by working with and through a variety of major partners for the best and most cost effective delivery. Most legal immigrants to Britain can also benefit from the free NHS services if they own legitimate work permits. Statistics NHS Scotland provides work for approximately 158,000 members of staff. These workers are comprised of more than 50,000 midwives, nurses, and health visitors as well as more than 3,800 medical consultants (Hall 2003). Furthermore, there are over 12,000 physicians, family doctors and extra health professionals such as opticians, dentists, and chemists (Hall 2003). The Information Centre (NHS) Scotland uses some of the most modern techniques to gather health statistics of its citizens. Few other nations extensively make use of methods for gathering information that combine consistency, high quality data, countrywide coverage and the ability to connect information in such a way as to permit patient based assessment as well as follow up practices (Rutherford, Sharp and Bromley 2012). The Information Services Division (ISD) is an affiliate of the National Services of Scotland, which is in turn a part of NHS Scotland. ISD supplies health intelligence, health information, statistical operations and guidance in supporting the NHS in developing quality improvement in the health sector (Hall 2003). The ISD operates in league with a wide range of institutions such as NHS Boards, NHS Scotland, general practitioners, hospital establishments, local authorities, Community Health Partnerships, voluntary organisations, and numerous other health care suppliers to create the national record, by employing national datasets to uphold the compilation and management of health statistics. The Vision of the ISD is to be a respected partner in enhancing the health status as well as wellbeing of Scottish citizens by supplying a first-rate intelligence service. The Purpose of the ISD is to convey efficient state as well as professional intelligence services to develop the health status of Scottish citizens. Scotland Population Health Information In order to comprehend the health statistics of the Scottish population, it is essential to understand the characteristics of Scottish culture and also tackle healthcare inequalities. Doing this will allow the main players in the health sector to be able to create a good program of action that targets healthcare assets and also evaluates the potential impact of strategies and programs that are created for the health sector. The NHS Health Scotland is responsible for two national investigations at present. These are: the ‘Knowledge, Attitudes and Motivations’ unit in the survey for Scottish Health, and the Scottish version of the ‘Health Behaviour in School-aged Children’ (HBSC) program (Popham, Boyle, O'Reilly and Leyland 2011). Even though Scotland has such effective establishments for dealing with the health of its populations, there are some aspects that contribute to illness among the Scots. These are: (i) Diet: it is a widely acknowledged fact that the Scottish diet is not altogether healthy. However it is likely that its poor effects are even worse than has been previously assumed. Past research studies regarding the daily diet of most Scottish citizens established that insufficient portions of vegetables as well as fruits was the fifth most significant contributor of weight related diseases in Scotland (Popham, Boyle, O'Reilly and Leyland 2011). This particular research concluded, based on a number of meta-analyses, that 22% of oesophageal cancer, 30 % of ischaemic heart disease, 20% of stomach cancer, 20% of ischaemic stroke, 4% of colorectal cancer, and 14% of lung cancer in the Scottish population could be attributed to insufficient vegetable and fruit consumption (Brown, Benzeval, Gayle, Macintyre, O'Reilly and Leyland 2012). The most widely acknowledged example of the causes of stomach cancer is where the main cause is a Helicobacter Pylori infection. This contamination triggers an inflammatory reaction in the stomach wall which hampers the operations that stimulate acid production. The transformed chemical environment in an infected person’s stomach brings about changes in the cells that coat the stomach wall, and finally result in cancer (Exworthy and Blane 2003). The adverse inflammatory reaction, however, can be by a person’s genetic makeup or dietary anti-oxidants like those that exist in vegetables and fruits. This research stated that in communities where the residents consume a lot of fruits and vegetables, there is a much lower rate of stomach cancer than might be predicted from the prevalence of Helicobacter. The advantages of vegetables as well as fruit consumption are greatest in the cases of cancers where there is a recognized environmental carcinogen, like in the case of tobacco usage and not in the cases of those cancers where endogenous aspects like genetic make-up are involved. The apparently low level of vegetables as well as fresh fruit in Scotland is also likely to increase the negative effects of other substances like alcohol abuse, the consumption of fatty foods, and smoking. (ii) Alcohol: Until recently, Scotland was not considered as a nation whose citizens regularly abused alcohol. It may be that the checks that other European nations have began to put in order to control alcohol abuse in their societies has forced the issue of alcohol abuse in Scotland to become more manifest. In the past decade alone, the deaths from liver cirrhosis and oesophageal cancer have increased in Scotland. Alcohol is therefore a risk factor that should be addressed in light of this shocking trend (Mok, Kapur, Windfhur, Leyland, Appleby, Platt and Webb 2012). In the past, Scottish men as well as women were known for their use of alcohol in what was touted to be a responsible way. The drink known as ‘Scotch’ originated from Scotland (McLoone 2003). The revelations of the effects of alcohol, however, prove that the national past time is actually a dangerous practice. (iii) Migration: The question of whether the health of some Scottish citizens is poor due to reasons of differential relocation of the healthy citizens outside Scotland is one that has been broached on different occasions (Asthana and Halliday 2006). Many skilled and young Scottish citizens usually look to migrate to other areas such as London immediately after graduating from college. Large cities have numerous opportunities as well as vacancies for skilled professionals, and this is what the young and energetic go in such for. This means that in areas such as Broughty Ferry, only the very young and the retired men and women are left behind. Evaluating such populations will therefore give a skewed view of the health problems that are often suffered by the areas citizens (Fairley and Leyland 2006). Scottish Social Attitudes Alcohol is seen as a 'social lubricant' by approximately 31% of Scottish adults. While there may be diverse 'drinking cultures' in Scotland as concerns drinking patterns of different age groups, varieties of the alcoholic drinks that are consumed, or the alcoholic preferences of different age-groups, there is moderately strong consensus across all the different groups that alcohol consumption is both a failing of the Scottish population and a central characteristic of the nation's culture. The drinking character of Scottish adults draws negative comparisons when compared with the reasonable drinking patterns of the residents of other European nations. The well-being as well as health of people in Scotland is negatively affected, either indirectly or directly by too much alcohol consumption. In the past year alone in Scotland, hospital admissions due to alcohol related incidents have quadrupled. The annual cost of alcohol abuse to the economy of Scotland is projected at being more than ?3.56 billion. Tackling the unfortunate results of a national pastime is never an easy thing to do. The NHS Health Scotland Alcohol Program is aware of this fact, and seeks to address the problem of alcohol with each region of Scotland on a separate basis. Its main framework is based of convincing citizens to reduce their levels of alcohol consumption, as well as improving treatment for those Scottish citizens that are addicted to alcohol. References Asthana, S. & Halliday, J. (2006) What works in tackling health inequalities? pathways, policies and practice through the life course, The Policy Press, London. Brown, D., Benzeval, M., Gayle, V., Macintyre, S., O'Reilly, D. & Leyland, A.H. (2012) ‘Childhood residential mobility and health in late adolescence and adulthood: findings from the west of Scotland twenty-07 study’, Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, vol. 66, pp. 942-950 Day, A. & Gentry, L. (2012) Dundee 123, Playroom Press Ltd., Scotland. Exworthy, M. & Blane, D. (2003) Tackling health inequalities since the Acheson inquiry, The Policy Press, London. Fairley, L. & Leyland, A. H. (2006) ‘Social class inequalities in perinatal outcomes: Scotland 1980-2000’, Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, vol. 60, pp. 31-36 Gifford, J. (2012) Dundee and Gifford, Yale University Press, Yale. Hall, A. (2003) A sense of belonging to Scotland, Interlink Publishing Group, Scotland. King, B. (2011) Undiscovered Dundee, Black & White Publishing, Dundee. McLoone, P. (2003) ‘Increasing mortality among adults in Scotland 1981 to 1999’, European Journal of Public Health, vol. 13, pp. 230-234 Mok, P.L., Kapur, N., Windfhur, K., Leyland, A.H., Appleby, L., Platt, S. & Webb, R.T. (2012) ‘Diverging trends in national suicide rates for Scotland and England and Wales, 1960-2008’, British Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 200, pp. 245-251. Popham, F., Boyle, P., O'Reilly, D. & Leyland, A.H. (2011) ‘Selective internal migration- does it explain Glasgow's worsening mortality record?’ Health & Place, vol. 17, pp. 1212-1217. Rutherford, L., Sharp, C. & Bromley, C. (2012) ‘The Scottish health survey 2011 volume 2: children’, The Scottish Government Health Directorate, pp. 101-115. Scott, A. (2003) The wee book of Dundee, Black and White Publishing, Dundee. Smith, G.D. (2003) Health inequalities: life course approaches, The Policy Press, London. Walsh, M. (2004) Introduction to sociology for health carers, Nelson Thornes Publishers, London. Read More