Small health pilgrimages: Place and practice at the holy well

While established pilgrimage sites have extensive literatures, holy wells are less well documented, yet remain significant sites of pilgrimage with healing associations within more localised settings (Rattue 1995). Health geographers describe such settings as therapeutic landscapes where established reputations for healing are central to the production of place (Gesler 2003). Drawing from a sample of holy wells in Ireland, the operation of holy wells as markers of mind/body/spirit health is explored through a deep mapping of place. Taking account of material, symbolic and inhabited dimensions of wells, they are explored under three parallel themes. Retreat is identified as a core aspect of the well visits informed by phenomenological engagements and material spaces of the well where stillness forms the basis of a spiritual health practice (Conradson 2007). The histories of the wells also contain surprisingly liminal and carnivalesque recreational elements wherein the sacred mingled regularly with the profane. Finally, well pilgrimages connect to a range of scale issues around their position as between special-and-everyday spaces within which heterogeneous healing practices emerge. In the sustenance and revival of holy well visits, the notion of the small pilgrimage as a performance of health emerges to broaden our understanding of the wider pilgrimage process

Spatial Data Infrastructures

Abstract included in text

Cross Border Health Data: Geographical Considerations?

While spatial studies are only one part of a wider critical study of cross-border service planning, medical / health geographies have much to offer in terms of spatial data analysis. Based on the existing literature and developing a proposed index of well-being, a new micro-geography of potential patient demand is identified for the island of Ireland. In addition, new proposals on improved data sharing and a stronger focus on the collection of utilisation data are identified as valuable future empirical directions for applied research

Geographies of informal care in Ireland, 2002-2006

Given the increasing role that informal caregivers play in the Irish health, social and economic systems, this short empirical paper outlines and maps the spatial distribution of caregivers from the 2002 and 2006 Censuses to provide some preliminary insights into patterns of caregiving in Ireland. The primary tasks involved mapping the distribution of carers at small area-level in both 2002 and 2006 and noting specific changes in patterns from the 2006 data. Patterns of informal caring are discussed in relation to: (a) clusters and concentrations (as measured by location quotients), (b) specific distributions related to intensities of caring, (c) key changes noted between 2002 and 2006 and (d) some preliminary explorations of explanatory data. Associations were identified between high-intensity caring and age, social class, deprivation and working in the home. Finally, potential applied policy uses for data for informal caring are identified including needs assessment and as an evidence base for modelling spatial service equity

Assessing the applicability of GIS in a health and social care setting: planning services for informal carers in East Sussex, England

Informal carers save the state’s health and social care services billions of pounds each year. The stresses associated with caring have given rise to a number of short-term care services to provide respite to carers. The Carers (Recognition & Services) Act of 1995 identified formally for the first time, the important role that unpaid carers provide across the community in Britain. The planning of combined health and social care services such as short-term care is a less developed application of geographical information systems (GIS) and this paper examines awareness and application issues associated with the potential use of GIS to manage short-term care service planning for informal carers in East Sussex. The assessment of GIS awareness was carried out by using a semi-structured questionnaire approach and interviewing key local managers and planners across a number of agencies. GIS data was gathered from the agencies and developed within a GIS to build up a set of spatial databases of available services, location of users and additional geo-demographic and topographic information. The output from this system development was presented in turn at workshops with agencies associated with short-term care planning as well as users to help assess their perspectives on the potential use and value of GIS. A renewed emphasis on a planned approach to health care coupled with integrated/ joint working with social care creates a need for new approaches to planning. The feedback from planners and users, suggested that a number of key data elements attached to data-sharing may prove to be simultaneously progressive yet problematic, especially in the areas of ethics, confidentiality and informed consent. A critical response to the suitability of GIS as a tool to aid joint health and social care approaches is incorporated within a final summary

Modelling Changing Hospital Service Accessibility in Ireland 1999-2006

On the island of Ireland, there are two distinct and separate jurisdictions, namely the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Both were founded in 1922 with the former developing into an independent state while the latter still remains a part of the United Kingdom. The Irish Republic operates a primarily state-funded health care system, but an increasing input from private health insurance has arguably created a two-tier publicprivate system (Wren 2003). Northern Ireland’s health care system is primarily based on the UK’s National Health System (NHS) with some place-based variation (Jordan et. al. 2006). With the recent peace in Northern Ireland and the success of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy of the South, both governments are exploring joining up the economic and social structures across the whole island. Modelling access to health is one of the areas, which are currently being explored. Informally, there has been cross-border movement in the utilisation of health care for decades but there has been no strategic approach to modeling the implications of those flows. The need to plan in a cross-border setting is also explicitly stated in the new Republic of Ireland National Development Plan (NDP) for the period 2007-2013. With both governments being engaged in the restructuring of health care services, the Departments of Health in both countries were keen to explore the spatial dimension. As a result the potential of a GIS-based approach was identified as worthy of exploration. The National Centre for GeoComputation (NCG) at NUI Maynooth were approached and asked to develop an initial modelling of access to hospitals on an All-Ireland basis. A number of problems needed to be addressed related to the compatibility of spatial data, data merging in a cross-border environment and reliability issues. However each of these issues were likely to be an issue affecting the quality of the GIS analysis. The combined datasets were then used to examine the potential impact of policy-driven change both north and south of the border

Introduction to Dublin 2026: The Future Urban Environment

The increasing concerns across Europe for the likely future urban environments of its major city regions are often modelled within a set of planning and sustainable development frameworks (European Commission, 2006). In Ireland, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken a lead in considering urban environmental futures through a range of funded research projects. One core project, the Urban Environment Project (UEP) has involved the development of a multi-disciplinary model of the future Dublin city-region based around the spatial modelling tool, “Monitoring Land Use/Cover Dynamics” (MOLAND) (Williams and Convery, 2010). Though the principal objective of the project was to incorporate and embed current indicators into a predictive model of the future urban environmental fingerprint, there was considerable interest in the ways in which existing planning policy also critically informed the likely future shape of the city (Walsh, 2008). As a summary of the work of the UEP project, the team, in conjunction with the Forum for Irish Urban Studies, organised a one-day workshop on Friday, November 13th 2009 in Trinity College Dublin to disseminate its findings and discuss a range of key themes that might shape the urban environment of the Dublin city region in 2026. The outcomes of the presentations and discussions that took place in that workshop form the basis of this special issue. The presenters and invited audience represented a range of academics, planners, community organisations and local authorities, all of who had an interest in the future of the city