Ross, Skye and Inverness West was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to eight constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
 Prior the Scottish Parliament election of 2011, the larger part of the constituency was divided between Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch and Caithness, Sutherland and Ross.  Inverness was moved into a new seat called Inverness and Nairn.
 The other seven constituencies of the Highlands and Islands electoral region during the constituency's existence were: Argyll and Bute, Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Moray, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.
 The region covers most of Argyll and Bute council area, all of the Highland council area, most of the Moray council area, all of the Orkney council area, all of the Shetland council area and all of Na h-Eileanan Siar.
 The Ross, Skye and Inverness West constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of a pre-existing Westminster (House of Commons) constituency. In 2005, however, Scottish Westminster constituencies were generally replaced with new larger constituencies. For representation at Westminster, the area of the Holyrood constituency is now divided between three constituencies: the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Westminster constituency, the Ross, Skye and Lochaber Westminster constituency and the
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Westminster constituency.
 Ross, Skye and Inverness West was one of three Holyrood constituencies covering the Highland council area. The other two were Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross and  Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber. Ross, Skye and Inverness West covered a central portion of the council area, with Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross to the north and Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber to the south. All three were within the Highlands and Islands electoral region.
 When created in 1999 the constituency boundaries were definable with reference to council wards which were grouped, by the Highland Council, in relation to eight council management areas. Constituency and management area names have many elements in common, and the management areas had the boundaries of former districts of the Highland region, as abolished in 1996, namely Ross and Cromarty, Skye and Lochalsh, Inverness, Nairn, Lochaber, Badenoch and Strathspey, Caithness and Sutherland.
 The management areas were abolished in 2007, and the council has now three new corporate management areas, defined as groups of new wards, also introduced this year, 2007. The boundaries of the corporate management areas are similar to those of Westminster constituencies created in 2005. One corporate management area, the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross area, has boundaries, therefore, which are also similar to those of a Holyrood constituency. The boundaries of the other two corporate areas, the Ross, Skye and Lochaber area and the Inverness, Nairn, and Badenoch and Strathspey area, are quite unlike those of any Holyrood constituency.