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The Scottish Government recognises that Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) mainly affects women in their 20s and 30s who have been identified as being overweight or obese, although it is not clear why.

IIH is often detected by optometrists when viewing patients’ optic discs as part of eye examinations. The Scottish Government funds universal free eye examinations for everyone in Scotland. If people (or their GP) are concerned about headaches, which is the main symptom of this condition, they can arrange an examination with an optometrist without delay. Referral for urgent review by ophthalmology can be made by the optometrist where there is suspicion of this condition.

In July 2018, following wide consultation with stakeholders, the Scottish Government published a Healthier Future: Scotland’s Diet & Healthy Weight Delivery Plan. This sets out a vision for everyone in Scotland to eat well and have a healthy weight. The plan’s third outcome makes a commitment to improve access to effective weight management services, as a way of reducing health conditions associated with excess weight. There is a strong focus on prevention while also recognising that some people need additional support to help them achieve a healthy weight.

The Scottish Government accepted recommendations to monitor food insecurity made by the Independent Working Group on Food Poverty in 2016. Questions from the UN Food Insecurity Experience Scale have been added to the Scottish Health Survey, and the data collected is integrated in to our National Performance Framework.

There has been no hours in the last year where air ambulance services in Scotland have been unavailable due to pilots not being available.

The Scottish Government recognises the pressures and challenges facing teachers, including those highlighted by the Mental Health Foundation Scotland. That is why we have taken action to reduce teacher workloads, clarify and simplify the curriculum framework and remove unnecessary bureaucracy.

The 2018-19 Programme for Government confirms we will provide enhanced support and professional learning materials for teachers allowing them to better support children and young people's mental health and wellbeing. We will also provide significant investment in the range of support available to our children and young people ensuring that issues are tackled early while guaranteeing faster access to specialist care for those who need it.

The Scottish Government’s ten year Mental Health Strategy emphasises the importance of prevention, early intervention and accessible services and we are working with employers across Scotland on how they can act to protect and improve mental health and support employees experiencing poor mental health.

I have met with a range of trade union representatives in the course of my regular meetings with frontline staff. This includes meeting with the RCN to discuss matters such as workforce planning.

NHS Information Services Division (ISD) of National Services Scotland produces quarterly hospital standardised mortality ratios (HSMR) for all Scottish hospitals participating in the Scottish Patient Safety Programme. The calculation takes account of patients who died within 30 days from hospital admission. This means that the HSMR also includes deaths that occur outside hospital.

Figures published on Tuesday 13 November 2018 by ISD show that HSMR at Scotland level has decreased by 11.2% since the first quarter of 2014.

The Scottish Patient Safety Programme is one of a number of factors over the last 10 years that have contributed to this reduction. ISD's report makes clear that other possible contributory factors include: reductions in underlying population-based mortality; improvements in the quality of care and treatment; increases in available medical treatments and risk factor improvements; and completeness/accuracy of hospital discharge summaries.

Contingency plans for the management of clinical waste have been successfully activated across all NHS boards in Scotland following the disruption to clinical waste management services provided by Healthcare Environmental Services Ltd. Although some boards have experienced a backlog of clinical waste on site, this is being cleared as part of the contingency arrangements.

NSS has prioritised the removal of orange waste bags, which must be transported to disposal sites within one week. Anatomical waste, stored appropriately in fridges and freezers within boards, has been disposed of properly. These arrangements, procured centrally by NSS, provide storage capacity to all (28) agreed priority sites, collecting and disposing of circa 300 tonnes of waste. Contracts for community services across Scotland have been initiated and NSS continue to secure specialist disposal capacity for the small quantities of higher risk products.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring all NHS boards receive an appropriate level of waste management service.

On 10 December the Scottish Medicines Consortium announced that they had recommended Perjeta for use in NHS Scotland for the neoadjuvant treatment of breast cancer. A second indication, for the treatment of metastatic (secondary) breast cancer was considered at the December meeting of the SMC and their decision will be published in January.

Paul Gray, Director-General for Health and Social Care, wrote to the Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee on 18 December. His letter contains the information requested and it will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib number 60364).

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-20503 on 7 January 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .