Chamber and committees

In January 2004, the Mental HealthResearch Team commissioned a scoping exercise on behalf of Choose Life.  The project,which will report to the Executive in June 2004, aims to explore the interests andareas of expertise of centres and individuals focusing on suicide-related research(nationally and internationally) and to invite experts to suggest the territoryand focus for a series of reviews to collate and co-ordinate the existing evidencebase. The reviews will be commissioned later this year and primary research willbe commissioned as soon as gaps in the evidence base have been identified.

The Effective Interventions Unithas commissioned a National Investigation into Drug Related Deaths in Scotland during2003, on behalf of the Substance Misuse Division. The investigation will involvethe collection of detailed information on the clinical and social circumstancessurrounding each drug related death, including suicides.

As part of our work on ChooseLife, we commissioned work in February to begin establishing the territory for aseries of research reviews. The first phase of this is to explore the views of local,national and international researchers in the field of suicide and suicide prevention.This will be completed by June. Following this work, further reviews will be commissioned,where there is reliable evidence to suggest gaps in information.

I met with the Chair and Chief Executive of NHS Forth Valley on 2 April and was briefed on their financialposition.

“Staff in the Performance Managementand Accounting Division of The Scottish Executive Health Department meet regularlywith all NHS boards to discuss their financial position. The next meeting with NHS Forth Valley is expectedto take place during May 2004. The agenda will focus on the 2004-05 financial position,including financial pressures.”

The Scottish Ambulance Servicecurrently operates a system which specifically provides support for people threateningsuicide. The service prioritises all calls it receives via the 999 system to ensurethat a person’s clinical condition receives the most appropriate response.

The system used - Advanced MedicalPriority Dispatch System (AMPDS) - is the primary system used by ambulance servicesworldwide to prioritise calls. AMPDS has 33 Chief Complaint categories, one of whichis Psychiatric/Abnormal Behaviour/Suicide Attempt; this is the protocol appliedto a caller contemplating suicide. Whilst an emergency ambulance is dispatched,the Ambulance Service Call Taker remains on the line and provides support and encouragementto the caller or their carer. This ensures that appropriate response and care startsfrom the moment the 999 call is answered in the Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre(EMDC) and continues until the ambulance arrives on scene and takes over responsibilityfor the person’s care.

As part of the Choose Life NationalStrategy and Action Plan, the Choose Life National Implementation Support Team iscurrently engaging with all Scottish Executive Departments, to ensure that suicide prevention is a focusnot only of the mental health agenda but also part of wider Scottish Executive policy work. Appendix three of the Choose Life National Strategy and ActionPlan identifies the main policies of the Scottish Executive which support and link with ChooseLife.

Some of these policies include:

Framework for Mental Health Servicein Scotland (Scottish Executive, 1997);

The Health Improvement Challenge(Scottish Executive, 2003);

For Scotland’s Children – Better integratedchildren’s services, (Scottish Executive, 2001);

Better Communities in Scotland: Closingthe Gap (Scottish Executive, 2002);

Plan for Action on Alcohol Problems(Scottish Executive, 2002);

Mind The Gaps: Meeting the needs of people with co-occurring substancemisuse and mental health problems (Scottish Executive, 2003);

Health, Social and Related Servicesfor Mentally Disordered Offenders in Scotland (NHS MEL (1999) 5) (Scottish Executive, 1999), and

“Suicide is Everyone’s Business”.Suicide Risk Management Strategy and Custodial Care, an Inter-Agency Approach (2002).

Staff in the Performance Managementand Accounting Division of The Scottish Executive Health Department meet regularly with all NHS boardsto discuss their financial position. The last meeting with NHS Fife took place on16 March 2004. The forecast financial position for 2003-04 was discussedat the meeting.

We expect to reach a decisionshortly.

Choose Life has commissionedresearch into suicide prevention and intervention from leading researchers throughoutthe world. Responses to date have come from 14 countries. We are also exchanginggood practice and information with colleagues in Ireland, Slovenia, New Zealand and Finland. Thiswill add to our knowledge and future strategic planning on suicide prevention inScotland.

ASIST (Applied Suicide InterventionSkills Training) will shortly be delivered in Scotland by experts form Canada and Australia. the Scottish trainees on the course will be joined by Norwegian colleagues. In addition,the visitors from Canada, who are internationally recognised World Health Organizationexperts on suicide prevention, will help review the Scottish approach to communitydevelopment and training in the field of suicide prevention.

There are no plans to review the Right to Buy legislation. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 requires Scottish ministers to publish a report on the effects of the Right to Buy by September 2006.

Details of the personspecification, selection criteria and selection process were all provided inthe background note sent out as part of the application pack. These detailswere also published on the Health Department Public Appointments Unit’s websiteduring the advertising period. Copies of the background note can be madeavailable to any interested party and a copy has also been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.