Chamber and committees

It is the role of the governing body, in this instance, Snowsport Scotland, to ensure that skiers and snowboarders are aware of the protection benefits of helmets when participating in their sport. The International Ski Federation strongly recommends the use of helmets for recreational skiing, and Snowsports Scotland supports this advice. Helmets are already compulsory in competitions.

Further information can be found on Snowsport Scotland''s website at:

http://www.snowsportscotland.org/disciplines/show/1.

This information requested is not available centrally.

A cost template report, developed by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, has been made available as a companion document to Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guideline 116 on the management of diabetes. The template provides estimates of the costs and resources required to provide insulin pump therapy, including the associated structured education, as well as estimates of the costs and associated resources required to provide insulin by multiple daily injection.

The template is available at http://www.sign.ac.uk/guidelines/fulltext/116/index.html.

The Chief Scientist Office (CSO), of the Scottish Government''s Health and Social Care Directorates, has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland. The CSO has contributed £240,000 towards the funds being made available through the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative for research in awareness and early diagnosis of cancer. This contribution ensures that researchers from Scottish universities are eligible to submit research proposals to this UK-wide initiative being led by Cancer Research UK.

A full national review of the Scottish Breast Screening Service will commence from April 2011 and is expected to take around 12 months to complete.

The review will consider how the Breast Screening Service in Scotland is delivered in the future, including the delivery of digital mammography.

The Scottish Government will work closely with NHS boards over the coming year to ensure that they are adequately prepared to implement the recommendations of the review.

We are always willing to consider proposals for providing pump-priming funding for Managed Clinical Networks.

Effective management of lupus relies on the expertise of many specialists, including rheumatologists, nephrologists, dermatologists, neurologists, gastroenterologists, respiratory physicians and cardiologists, and their respective supporting investigative and administrative teams. Clinicians from across Scotland have therefore formed the Scottish Lupus Exchange (SLEx). It brings together the clinicians in the various disciplines to ensure that, through working collaboratively, people living with lupus receive the care and support they need as close to home as possible. The SLEx could well form the core of a lupus Managed Clinical Network, with suitable third sector representation.

We have provided pump priming funding to support the development of a rheumatology Managed Clinical Network in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. While its initial focus will be on Rheumatoid Arthritis, we expect that, over time, its work will extend to other conditions, including lupus.

The Scottish Government does not hold any information relating to the socioeconomic history of those individuals who currently reside within the two lowest socioeconomic groups. To obtain this information would require longitudinal data that tracks individuals, their consumption and whether they have been admitted to hospital due to their alcohol use. There is currently no such data available in Scotland.

We know that too many Scots across all socioeconomic groups are drinking too much, putting the health and well-being of themselves and their families at risk. That is why we are committed to providing preventative and specialist services for all those with alcohol problems, no matter what their socio-economic status.

The Scottish Government recognises that there is no single measure which will help change Scotland''s relationship with alcohol. That is why we have placed a whole population approach at the heart of our Alcohol Framework - an approach that can make a genuine cultural and attitudinal shift in the way all socioeconomic groups view, and consume alcohol in Scotland. Policies targeted at the population as a whole can have a protective effect on vulnerable populations whilst also reducing alcohol misuse across the whole population.

This is why the Scottish Government remains committed to minimum pricing, as we believe that it would be an effective, efficient, targeted and proportionate measure that would make a real impact on consumption and harm across society.

We are committed to improving the quality and accessibility of information that is available to people and their carers throughout their care journey, both to raise awareness of individual conditions, and to support their effective diagnosis and management. We recognise the importance of this approach in relation to lupus, given its higher prevalence in women from minority ethnic backgrounds.

NHS Inform is our nationally coordinated approach to the provision of health and health service information. It is intended as a first point of contact for trusted quality assured health information for the public, patients and carers in Scotland.

NHS Inform provides information on the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of lupus that can be accessed at http://www.nhsinform.co.uk/health-library/articles/l/lupus/introduction.aspx

Consumer Focus Scotland has produced a DVD that provides information in a variety of languages on how to access the health service. This is also available via www.nhsinform.com.

The Scottish Government Equalities and Planning Directorate is leading on the development of a national Translation, Interpreting & Communications Support Strategy, in partnership with NHS boards, to improve the provision of accessible information and communication support services for speakers of different languages, people with literacy problems and people with other communication difficulties.

NHS boards identify, via an alert on their accident and emergency (A&E) information systems, patients who are frequent attenders (this includes mental health presentations). They may then undertake one or more of the following steps:

request a psychiatric assessment to be undertaken by the mental health team while the patient is in the department “ this could be undertaken by the liaison service, crisis service or community mental health team. The mental health service would then arrange follow-up as appropriate.

advise the patient of alternative places where they can access support if they feel it is not clinically appropriate for the patient to be in A&E.

After each attendance at A&E a letter is sent to the patients'' GP advising that their patient attended on a specific date, why they attended, and what treatment/referrals were made.

This information is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-36289 on 27 September 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

There is no single definition of what constitutes good development at age five and several possible measures may be used as indicators. This information is not therefore held centrally. Local delivery agencies may choose to collect a range of information to report on good development in their single outcome agreements.