4. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote the benefits of organ donation. (S4O-03704)

Scotland is the only country in the United Kingdom to have consistently run annual high-profile media and advertising campaigns to promote organ donation and transplantation. I launched this year’s campaign on 27 October, and it will run until January 2015. Our annual campaigns are the reason why 41 per cent of the population in Scotland are now on the national health service organ donor register, in comparison with 32 per cent in the rest of the UK.

Additionally, on Monday this week, the Scottish Government published the first national report card on organ donation. This is the first time that NHS performance on that has been made available in such a way anywhere in the UK. This year’s report card reflects very good progress; Scotland has achieved an almost 100 per cent increase in organ donations and a 62 per cent increase in transplants since 2007. There has also been a 25 per cent reduction in the transplant waiting list since 2006.

I thank the Minister for the outstanding work that the Scottish Government has been doing. However, in light of the facts that, for every one organ donor, seven lives can be saved, and that 38 people died last year in Scotland alone while waiting for organs, will the Scottish Government back the introduction of a soft opt-out system for organ donation so as to increase the number of available organs, as the Welsh Government has done, leading the way—with Northern Ireland and England also promoting such a law—to save many more lives than at present?

It is worth keeping it in mind that the part of the UK that has the highest level of organ donations per head of population is Scotland. We need to be careful not to think that the need for an increased number of organs can be addressed by an opt-out system. There are countries that already have an opt-out system that have a very low donation level. That is not a solution in itself.

We are guided on such matters by the Scottish transplant group, which is made up of clinical experts, donor recipients and their families and carers. At this point, the group’s opinion is that an opt-out system is not appropriate.

We need to continue to build on the very good progress that we have made through the infrastructure changes that we have made, which have delivered record numbers of organ donations. Through our new plan for transplantation, we intend to continue to drive that progress forward in future years.

The Minister has told us about recent increases in the number of organ donors. Is that part of the impact of the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006, which the Parliament passed eight years ago? How does Scotland compare with countries such as Spain and Holland, which have had a soft opt-out system for a number of years?

We have made significant progress not because of legislation but because of the infrastructure changes that we have made, such as basing transplant nurses in particular units. Organs can be received from an individual donor only in particular circumstances—in particular in intensive care units. We have taken specific measures to increase the number of organs that can be donated in such circumstances.

It is worth keeping it in mind that, although the Spanish introduced a soft opt-out system back in 1979, it was more than 10 years before they gained any increase in organ donations, because they had not made the necessary infrastructure changes. America has a consistently higher level of organ donation than any part of Europe, but it does not have an opt-out system. It has such a high level because it has developed its infrastructure.

We must be careful in considering the matter, as there is no single solution that will address the issues and ensure that more organs are donated. We can demonstrate that, because of the work that the Government has progressed in the past few years, record numbers of organs are being donated and a record number of transplants are taking place. We are determined to build on that progress and continue to ensure that Scotland leads the rest of the United Kingdom in this area.