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I reassure members that the Scottish Government, through the Scottish rare disease implementation board and through wider engagement, is continuing our commitment to improving the lives of people living with rare conditions and enabling resources to support clinicians.

Guidance on assessment and referral for hypermobility is available on Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s right decision service. I am aware that Ehlers-Danlos Support UK has been working with NHS Wales to co-produce a national pathway for those with hypermobility disorders in Wales.

I am waiting to see the outcome of that work and any learning that can be applied to Scotland. We will continue to implement our action plan to support people with rare conditions in Scotland.

I thank Ms Roddick for the work that she has been doing to raise my awareness, and awareness more widely in the Parliament, of hypermobility conditions. As she knows, we have consulted on a long-term conditions framework. I am aware that representations have been made by the rare diseases community, and those are being fed in. Those views will be captured in the review work, and the allocation of resources will be determined as that work progresses, in line with the Scottish Parliament’s budget work.

I recognise what the member says, as my own constituency inbox receives inquiries on women’s health issues.

As we move to the next phase of the plan, we will continue to invest in women’s health. We have provided £8.8 million to target long waits for gynaecology, £4 million to enhance general practitioner services and support access to long-acting reversible contraception, £1.5 million for miscarriage care and £1 million each year to broaden access to cancer screening. We have also invested more than £21 million this financial year by delivering the equally safe fund to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls.

We will continue to do all in our power to seek the best outcomes for the health of women and girls throughout their lives.

We have been speaking with women and girls, gathering evidence and consulting with interested organisations to develop the next phase of the plan. The first stage was completed in 2024, and we want to make sure that the next phase builds on that progress. I am pleased to say that work has been progressing well, and I hope that the next phase will be published in January 2026.

I welcome Annie Wells to her shadow portfolio on women’s health and to the group where we have been sharing progress in that area.

It is important to recognise that Scotland was the first of the four nations to produce a women’s health plan. We recognise that we have a distance to go, but with the leadership that we have in the Scottish Government, the cross-party support, and we should not forget the amazing support of the women’s health champion Professor Anna Glasier, we are making a difference. We have been very clear about ensuring that we are bringing women of all ages into the work on the next phase of the plan, and I hope that Annie Wells can welcome it when it is launched in January next year, as I do.

I want to let members know that, in August, I wrote to Stephen Kinnock, the Minister of State for Care, to highlight our concerns at a time of continued pressure on the dental workforce. The UK Labour Government’s decision will have consequences for hard-working people who make such a valuable contribution to our communities and our healthcare system. The Scottish Government will continue to call on the UK Government to reverse the proposals.

The UK Government has not worked with us on developing a Scottish visa or a Scottish graduate visa route, despite repeated asks. We are clear that Scotland should have an immigration system that meets Scotland’s economic and demographic needs. The best way for Scotland to do that is to be an independent country.

I politely point out to Mr Sweeney that the waiting list for dentists from international countries to sit the examinations is down to the use of reserved powers. Your minister—

My apologies. The Minister of State for Care made a decision not to follow up on the request that we and the other devolved nations made. I call on Mr Sweeney to write to Mr Kinnock to try to persuade him of the need to get more dentists into this country.

I welcome the opportunity to participate in this debate. I thank members for their contributions, and I particularly thank Christine Grahame for lodging the motion. This week is crucial in raising awareness of the life-saving and life-changing opportunities that organ and tissue donation provides and today’s debate has made an important contribution towards that end.

I pass on my love and thanks to Audrey Cameron for the decision that she and her family made about James Borland, someone who Christine Grahame described as a kind and gentle man. He was inspiring, and I thank them so much for their decision. [Applause.]

Stephen Kerr spoke about comfort and selfless acts, and I thank him for being so personal in sharing his views, which can only help to ensure that we increase donor numbers. As Paul Sweeney said, we need a generous spirit, which Stephen Kerr showed, if we are to increase numbers and ensure that as many people as possible get the opportunity of a better life, or of life itself.

Paul Sweeney, and other members, also spoke about the importance of discussing end-of-life care. I was pleased to launch “Palliative Care Matters for All” 10 days ago. That framework recognises the importance of having those conversations.

During my time as minister, I have met people who have donated organs, the families of those who have, sadly, died and who took the decision to donate their organs, and people whose lives have been transformed by receiving transplants. I also observed a live kidney transplant operation at the Royal infirmary of Edinburgh. I pay huge tribute to everyone who has donated organs and to the clinicians and other NHS staff across Scotland who are involved in donation and transplantation.

The Scottish Government marketing campaign for this year’s organ and tissue donation week focuses on the key message, “Don’t leave your loved ones in doubt.” The national campaign is designed to encourage people who are aged 16 and over to record their donation decision on the NHS organ donor register and to tell their loved ones about their decision. I also think that the artwork that Jackie Dunbar described is hugely important, because it is sometimes easier to bring about a difficult conversation through art. I commend the work of Shelagh Swanson and Aberdeen royal infirmary.

Scotland has a good record on the number of people who register their decision on the organ donor register, which I am pleased about. However, we have to do more. Working with stakeholders and using a variety of social media platforms, video on demand and digital and radio platforms, we will be emphasising the message that, if family and friends know about someone’s donation decision in advance, it will make it easier for them to ensure that that is honoured. I thank Erin and Bushra for the conversation that I had with them on that specific issue at their stand in Parliament earlier today. I also thank them for our conversation about death and the importance of sharing our wishes with our loved ones.

I thank Christine Grahame for that very important intervention. My conversation at lunch time was about that issue and how we can make that more clear. We need to disseminate the message widely, including when people apply for certain things such as driving licences, so that as many people know as possible. I have taken that on board, I have listened to that conversation and I will be discussing it with officials after this debate.

I will draw attention to three key areas of Scottish Government work that supports organ and tissue donation. First, we are working with NHS Blood and Transplant to address concerns about a decline in the pool of eligible donors, as Christine Grahame just mentioned. That is not just across Scotland but in the United Kingdom and internationally. There has also been a decline in family authorisation rates and changes in the perception of the NHS post pandemic.

With the aim of seeking to explore how opportunities can be maximised to increase the number of organ donations, we created the organ donation joint working group. That has taken advice from international experts and I look forward to receiving the group’s report in due course. Inputs from tonight’s debate will clearly also be part of my thought process and evidence gathering.

We are aware that some families find the donation process difficult. I welcome that the NHSBT, as part of its work, will review the donor family authorisation form to seek to improve the experience of donor families and specialist nurses and help to reduce the length of the donation process. I also look forward to receiving next year’s five-year evaluation of the opt-out system, which was introduced in 2021. I am sure that there will be more learning from that.

The second area that I draw attention to is that, earlier this year, we worked to promote living kidney donation as an excellent option for those who face the need for transplantation. That work is supported by the renal education and choices @ home programme, which is being funded by the Scottish Government. REACH, which was established in late 2022, is focused on timely education—a key component of the treatment pathway choice for all patients.

The network of REACH nurse specialists in Scotland provides home visits to people with end-stage kidney disease and their key family members to give them more information on living kidney donation. That approach drives improvement in education and increases the uptake of patients who access pre-emptive living donor kidney transplantation. Meeting a family that benefited from that is one memory that will never leave me.

Thirdly, I thank Kidney Research UK, which the Scottish Government grant funds to increase awareness of living kidney donation among minority groups in Scotland, which might otherwise face challenges in equitable access to transplantation. The work of our peer educators, whom I met here in the Parliament, provides a vital service informing, educating and helping people to make choices about organ donation.

Again, I thank members for their support and for their speeches, and I once more urge people across Scotland to record their donation decision on the organ donor register and to discuss their decision with their family and friends.