http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/edinburgh-reviews/Hauntings-The-Science-of-Ghosts.5151980.jp

March 9, 2009

By Domenica Goduto

Patients and visitors to hospitals are being encouraged to report hygiene failures on the part of the NHS directly to the Scottish Government.

This measure is among several announced by the Government today as part of a new campaign to improve cleanliness standards in order to combat hospital superbugs.

Other measures include random hygiene inspections and the creation of a government organization, the Care Environment Inspectorate, specifically dedicated to wiping out infections such as MRSA and C. diff.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon announced that the £1 million that will be spent on the scheme each year is an indication of the Government’s determination to tackle the problem.

She stated: “We have put in place a comprehensive package of measures, including boosting spending by 260 per cent, but it’s crucial that we – and more importantly the public – are assured that this work is delivering the high standards everyone expects.

“The Care Environment Inspectorate’s stringent inspection regime will do just that.

The initiative is the result of a consultation held last year in reponse to the C.diff outbreak that killed 18 people at the Vale of Leven hospital in 2007.

More stringent hygiene standards have already lowered the number of MRSA and C. diff cases since 2006, when 40 people across the Lothians died as a result of the latter infection.

Handwashing regulations are being more strictly adhered to, and the appointment of nurse wardens to each ward has helped with the enforcement of cleanliness standards. Junior doctors have also been warned not to list C. diff as a contributing factor on death certificates unless they are absolutely positive that this is the case.

Sturgeon also notes that the appointment of a chief inspector to oversee the Government’s efforts in this area will be a key factor in its success. She says: “With the right person at the helm, offering strong leadership, I’m confident that the inspectorate will ensure all boards meet the highest possible standards.

The move follows claims by Theresa Fyffe, director of the Royal College of Nursing in Scotland, last week that the Government needed a more coordinated approach to battling superbugs, including more staff, an overall supervisor and clearer guidelines on initiatives.

She said that many frontline hospital staff were confused by the Government’s sporadic tactics and that the issue was becoming politicized, thereby creating confusion and anxiety on the wards.

Edinburgh's historic Calton Hill

The Edinburgh World Heritage Trust has received a funding boost of £780,000 which will allow it to refurbish a number of Edinburgh’s historic landmarks.

The Tron Kirk, St. Bernard’s Well and the buildings on Calton Hill are among the sites likely to benefit from the extra money provided by the City of Edinburgh Council.

The funding, which is to be distributed over the next three years, will also help in the promotion of Edinburgh as a world heritage site and allow schoolchildren to learn about the capital’s history.

The council received the money as part of a £3.5 billion award from the Scottish Government to shore up Edinburgh’s status as a capital city and a world heritage site.

A council spokesperson said, “This funding will allow Edinburgh World Heritage to continue to maintain the city’s heritage status which helps to promote the city and attracts people to live, study, visit and invest here.

Last year the local authority was warned that cutting funding to the Trust would significantly harm the city’s world heritage status. The Trust normally receives £500,000 annually from the council and Historic Scotland to support its conservation activities.

The council has also been faced with a UNESCO probe following its approval of proposed developments in Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns.

An Edinburgh World Heritage spokesperson said that the supplementary backing constitutes “a clear commitment to investing in Edinburgh’s unique built heritage. We will be working closely with the council in planning for the future of Calton Hill, and helping find sustainable uses for historic buildings such as Riddles Court and the Tron Kirk.

Statues of poet Allan Ramsay and explorer David Livingstone on Princes Street and of William Pitt and George IV on George Street are also on the list for refurbishment.

The Edinburgh Heritage Trust has already completed work on the Black Watch Monument at The Mound, the Bow Well in the Grassmarket and the Melville Monument, in St. Andrew Square Garden. It has also started work on several monuments on Calton Hill, and is now expected to be given responsibility for developing a long-term management plan for the site.

Are Edinburgh residents isolated from each other?

Last week a BBC-commissioned study found that Edinburgh is the loneliest place to live in the UK.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Sheffield, claimed that 33.1% of Edinburgh residents were likely not to feel as they are part of or involved with their local community. The neighbourhood of Holyrood was the loneliest within Edinburgh, with 86.6% of residents likely to be disconnected.

The study calculated its figures from the number of non-married adults resident in an area, as well as the number of one-person households, the number of people who have moved to their current address within the past year, and the number of people renting privately.

The researchers found that the loneliness figure had risen by 13% in Edinburgh since 1971, overtaking London to attain the dubious distinction of being the loneliest city in the country.

Yet, I cannot help but wonder if the factors under consideration truly indicate whether a population is “lonely.” Steve Cardownie, deputy leader of the Edinburgh City Council, questions whether individuals living in one-person households actually do feel lonely. He pointed out that individual personalities must be taken into consideration, and that some people may prefer to be on their own. I tend to agree – some people simply enjoy having their own space, and thus solo living is perhaps more conducive to their well-being. The fact that a person lives alone also does not indicate whether they have a support network of family and friends who may reside in different neighbourhoods or communities, but still be very much connected to that person’s life. Similarly, a non-married adult may still enjoy a range of other relationships, and can even be involved with a romantic partner whom they are not ready or interested in marrying.

Cardownie also points out that Edinburgh has a large student population and a financial sector which attracts many young and fledgling professionals. As the study also takes into account the number of persons who have recently moved into their current community, the transient nature of student life and accommodation will necessarily affect its figures. However, students often engage in an active social and community life, so their living situation again does not necessarily reflect upon their “loneliness,” at least not after they have settled into university life. Similarly, young professionals may simply not yet have had a chance to establish a family or concrete social life, but this is a temporary situation. Many may simply also be in a phase of their lives in which they wish to focus predominantly on their career. Hence, although technically they may be somewhat disconnected from their community, they do not necessarily consider themselves to be “lonely.”

This raises the final issue that loneliness is a feeling more so than a state of being. People could be identified as “lonely” by a study such as this without actually feeling any such emotion themselves. Cardownie notes that much community disconnectedness may be attributable to increased use of technology in society. With online shops and services and a range of entertainment options that centre around a television screen or computer, it is easy to avoid direct interpersonal interaction. However, some people are content in this lifestyle, and many find a degree of social interaction online that has evaded them in everyday life. While there is much to be said for the benefits of regular, face-to-face human interaction, a person’s happiness ultimately comes down to how content they feel with their situation. If someone is not conscious of lack, and feels that their needs are being met, being officially “lonely” may not be a problem.

Skye's landscape holds many secrets

After having lived for four months on the Isle of Skye, I confess myself to be one of the many who have fallen hopelessly under its renowned spell. Recent headlines emphasize that Skye is not merely a magnet for dreamy tourists, but a location of great but often underestimated significance for palaeontology.

Dr. Neil Clark, of the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow, observes that “Skye is very important for world-wide palaeontology, mainly because of the number of Middle Jurassic sites around the world is not that great.” In the past week scientists have announced the discovery on Skye of the remains of the world’s first aquatic turtles, as well as footprints that link the dinosaurs which once lived on Skye to others found in Wyoming, U.S.A.

It is surprising that this angle is not seized upon with more vigour by tourism authorities and operators, for Skye’s imposing landscape, and the geological secrets it reveals, are a large part of its charm. Palaeontology is a science possessed of a similar magic, in which scientists create compelling tales of ancient creatures in alien landscapes and continents that move across the face of the earth. Yet the truth is that these images are based upon scant and sometimes frail evidence, which possesses little meaning for the general public without expert interpretation. Skye is not a centre for palaeontological tourism because few of its treasures remain there – they are quickly transferred to more central locations for study and analysis.

This is perhaps a necessary evil. Fossils are a peculiar kind of scientific resource. Their discovery is often random and linked to incredible chance, so each individual piece must be milked for all the information it can possibly give. Considering the number of organisms that have traversed the earth, the creation of fossils is relatively rare. Yet how can one determine whether their numbers are in fact increasing or diminishing? The more time that passes, and the more that humans develop and cover the planet, presumably means the fewer are the fossils left to find, or capable of being found. Yet new fossils must still be developing somewhere in the soil. For our purposes, however, it is only the fossils of great age that have anything significant to teach us, and these are a relatively limited resource.

In considering this rarity, it becomes apparent that climate change is not only affecting the planet’s future, but slowly severing our ties with the past. While new finds, such as those on Skye, are revealed by the effects of erosion, countless other unknown treasures are no doubt slowly being swallowed by the sea, as the planet warms and water levels rise. Archaeological sites are similarly threatened, as some of the earliest outposts of British civilisation cling periously to the edge of inward-shifting cliffs. While environmental science is predominantly (and understandably) concerned with the future of the human population, it is perhaps worth sparing a thought for the priceless knowledge that is also slipping beyond our grasp. Palaeontology may not have immediate relevance for erasing poverty, or ending global conflict. But in studying the patterns of life in the past, we can perhaps find ways of predicting and managing the future, or better comprehending the slippery slope on which our planet rests.

The Maldives are vanishing under rising sea levels

The 300, 000 residents of the Maldives may soon be homeless if climate change continues at its current pace.

Their president-elect, Mohamed Nasheed, has announced plans to purchase a new homeland for his people as their entire country is threatened by rising sea levels.

The Maldives consist of around 1000 islands and coral atolls, which at their highest point rise less than 2 metres above the Indian Ocean.  It is the lowest nation on earth, and over the past hundred years the water has risen by 20 cm around the archipelago.  The United Nations warns that sea levels could rise by another 60 cm globally over the next century, which would leave this idyllic tourist destination uninhabitable.

The Maldives’ tourism industry is worth billions of dollars a year.  Nasheed intends to tap into this huge revenue to create a “sovereign wealth fund.”  The money will be used to purchase lands in other countries to which his people can move should their homes eventually vanish underwater.  Candidates include India and Sri Lanka, which are similar in terms of culture and climate, and possibly Australia, because of of the vast amounts of uninhabited land available.

Nasheed, who is the country’s first democratically elected president and a noted human rights campaigner, says that the plan is “an insurance policy for the worst possible outcome.  We do not want to leave the Maldives, but we also do not want to be climate refugees living in tents for decades.”  So far, he says, the countries he has approached have been “receptive” to the idea.

Tom Picken, a climate change expert for the organization Friends of the Earth, calls the move “an unprecedented wake-up call.  The Maldives is left to fend for itself.  It is a victim of climate change caused by rich countries.”

The Maldives is currently in transition from the old autocratic regime under Mamoum Abdul Gayoom to Nasheed’s new democracy.  The president-elect also seeks to rectify the huge gap between rich and poor and the country’s problems with drug use and unemployment.