 Oahu, из Warriors Integrity, we move to the final item of the business and that it is a members business debate on motion 263.5, in the name of Falken MacGregor, on Scottish national blood transfusion service. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put. I would encourage anybody to participate, to press the request to speak buttons or place an art in the chat function if they are joining us remotely and I call on Falken MacGregor to open fight. 13. Rwy'n gweld i'n gwybod i ddigonio i'r ddafod o'i ddim yn ddysgu'r Blod Transfusiwn Cymru diolch i ddweud yng Nghymru, sy'n ddysgu'r Blod Transfusiwn Cymru, oedd yng Nghymru'r eu ddysgu'r Blod Transfusiwn Cyngor wedi eu ddigon i ddysgu'r Blod Transfusio yn ddysgu'r Blod Transfusiwn Cyngor. A bod yn wneud, yr Ddysgu'r Blod Transfusiwn Cyngor yng nghymru wedi ddegwyd. Eich bethau ymddiol iawn, iawn i gynalych anffordd a ffair absoluta arnynt, ond mae'n sefydlu i ddim yn ymddiol i'w blaid iechyd ag yr Sasmos Bws Yných eto yn gwybod felly mae ein paethноеu i ddweud ac eich blaid. Dwy oedd y bydiau sy'n ziwn i mor hwnnw i gydig i fynd i gydig i'w ffordd i gydig i gydig i'w gydig i ddim yn ymddiol, Mynd i gydig i gydig i gyrfa pob arnau hwnnw i ddim yn ei ddim yn ysgrif peace, sydd ei gydig i fyny gyda'i trwy dechrau. I would like to put in record my thanks to Julie Boner from the service for her excellent briefing ahead of today's debate. I will also say that I myself am a fairly regular blood donor. My next nation is due in February and that will be my 18th in total. I hope to achieve my 20th at some point this year. Indeed, it has been through donating blood, talking with the ever-friendly team there and hearing about the current plight in relation to active blood donors that inspired me to lay this motion for debate. I would also like to highlight that, by complete coincidence, the Mobile Blood Donation Unit is in Coatbridge today at the Old Monkland community centre, so if anyone local is able to attend, please consider booking an appointment. My thanks to North Lancer Council for continuing to find venues for this to happen. Throughout the last two years, and indeed well before the team at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, we have worked tirelessly day in and day out to make sure that NHS is at an appropriate level of stock. This service continued throughout the pandemic, and staff were not generally redeployed to other roles, something that the public don't always know. However, the team is now tired of staff absences and isolations, like all sectors, and I hope that they will be supported by the Government going forward. In some ways, I feel that they are often the forgotten arm of our health response to the pandemic, and it is vital that this Parliament recognises and commends each and every one of them for their dedication and sacrifices. Let's be in no doubt that this is a vital service, because without blood supplies, so many essential life-enhancing and life-saving operations and procedures would simply not be possible. However, as a result of the last two years, Scottish hospitals are currently supplied by the smallest pool of blood donors this century. During 2020, active blood donors in Scotland fell from over 105,000 to fewer than 92,000. That has likely been due to people leaving their houses less often, due to the restrictions of being worried about catching the virus, perhaps being unwell themselves or not being aware that they could give blood during that period. That was a real-time reduction of nearly 13 per cent, meaning that 13,000 fewer people gave blood in a single year. Although the donor base has started to rebuild in 2021 and Scotland now has 96,000 active blood donors, that is still well below pre-pandemic levels. There is also a varied picture across the country. For example, stats for Coatbridge suggest that there were 534 active donors in 2019, 409 in 2020 and currently 364 at the count in 2021, so there has not been that increase in my local area. There is also a 61 per cent to 39 per cent split female to male donor. That is perhaps somewhat surprising, as men are less likely to have low iron levels and can donate every 12 weeks, as opposed to 16 for women. A personal play—come on, Coatbridge and Creson—and come on, men, let's do this. If you need it even more reason to give blood, research suggests that it can be beneficial for your health and wellbeing as a donor too. I am joining the Scottish National Blood Translusion Service in calling for more people to come forward and give blood, whether you have never given blood before or haven't for a while. Please do come forward, especially now, as we are in the height of winter. There are some people who are not able to give blood, such as if you have had a blood transfusion before, so please check out eligibility before booking, but do not worry that you will be given a health check before donating, where, among other things, your iron, for example, will be checked. You will never continue through to donation if there is any identifiable risk to yourself. It is a very thorough process. You can find out more information including Covid-19 safety protocols and how and where to donate on the website www.scotblood.co.uk, but you can also set up an online account there and use it to change, make or cancel appointments for donor centres and community sessions. There are eight different blood groups, and the service aims to retain a five to seven-day supply of all eight blood groups at all times, so your blood will always be needed whether you have a rare or a common type. Please do not worry about that. You will be welcomed with open arms. Rare types are needed because they are rare, but common types are needed because they are common, so everybody's blood is needed. There are also three different types of the nations, whole blood, the most common, plasma, recently reintroduced after an extensive ban and platelets, and at my last appointment in November I spoke to a member of the team about platelets, and I'm considering it for the future for myself. To inspire the nations, the national blood transfusion service is an amazing stories initiative where recipients of blood tale of the huge impact the nation has had in their lives, so earlier this week when this debate was confirmed, I put out a call on my facebook page asking constituents who have received blood and wanted to share their story to get in touch, and I want to thank all those who took this opportunity and emailed me in their stories, and I will share two of them just now. Jen from Gart Cosh said, and I quote, I had an emergency section when I had my now seven-year-old. I lost a lot of blood after her delivery, which then resulted in needing a transfusion. Before I had the transfusion, I was unable to even stand on my own, never mind look after a newborn. After I had the transfusion, I was kicking my height, massive over exaggeration there, but it made a huge difference to me, only downside is I can't deny it. And Debbie, who is not actually my constituent, but works locally, and thus noticed the post, said that following a plunolary, sorry, embolism, she said, and I quote again, and this is quite a lengthy quote, Psygnosa. I was putting blood thinners and very steadily started losing blood. In August this came to head. After suffering from two endometrial cyst erupting as a result of the blood loss gathering in my uterus, I became very, very unwell. My family were extremely concerned and phoned in ambulance. At this stage I was so weak I could barely stand. My heart rate was high and I was struggling to breathe. As soon as I was admitted, doctors were concerned and moved very quickly. My blood count had dropped from 115 to 65 within a week. I was told 55 can mean heart failure. I had it most two days left before things were critical. I received two units of blood and one unit of iron. Without the transfusion, I would have very lightly died. I have been back to work full time since September. This is the first time I've been able to work consistently since contracting Covid pneumonia and the subsequent pulmonary embolism since December 2020. The blood transfusion saved my life. I am feeling the most well I have for a year and I'm so thankful that someone donated the blood to save me. So, what more can we all do? For MSPs and other elected members, we can promote the work of the service and share social media posts, particularly when they have mobile units in our own areas. Always promote the pre-booked appointments as the system is working very well and avoids the queues that people will remember that used to happen. Third businesses, public sector bodies and all employers please allow staff time off during their working day to donate locally. Incorporatis is a part of a social responsibility initiative or whatever it is that you have in place and I'll certainly be writing to local organisations in Cochbridge and Chrysyn about that. Local authorities, please continue to make venues available. The service has notified me that there is increased difficulty in getting access to the same venues since the pandemic and this might be due to those places being used for vaccination or testing clinics or changes in staffing. Whatever the case, please treat giving blood with the same urgency and make venues available so that people can donate locally. So, Presiding Officer, in conclusion, I want to again put on record my heartfelt thanks to the work of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service. I would also reiterate the plea for anyone who can to please consider donating blood. These last two years we have learned how to respond to a health crisis with a great dedication and community spirit. Please consider giving blood even once or twice a year in the same way, like what we have done in the last two years, it really could save a life. Thank you very much indeed, Mr McGregor. Thank you also for the reminder of where I cannot donate in Orkney because the mobile unit does not deliver there. I need to get back to donating here in Edinburgh and I will make a commitment here and now to make an appointment later this week or next week. No pressure on anybody else participating in this debate, but I now call Edward Mountain, who joins us remotely and will be followed by Jackie Dunbar for around four minutes, Mr Mountain. I look forward to you notifying the chamber when you have actually given blood because the actual proof of the pudding and the need is for people to give blood. Before I begin, I would like to thank Mr McGregor for securing this important debate and I would also like to congratulate him on his donations to date. I look forward to seeing him wearing the much cherished silver 25 donation badge and perhaps go on to the gold badge and the emerald badge, things that we should all aspire to do if we can. It is of course right that we celebrate and recognise the pioneering efforts of those who establish the means of blood transfusion, which would go on to say counterslides. As Fulton McGregor said, it was in Edinburgh that the first successful human blood transfusion took place, I think, in 1818. It was again at Edinburgh that the first blood transfusion service was established in 1930. I struggled to imagine what it was like in those early transfusion days, where there was no comfy bed or tea and biscuits afterwards, I suspect. Let's be honest, I suspect that the extraction methods could be described rather than the wee scratch that we are told it is today or whatever the current euphemism is. Back then, the service relied on emergency panel of donors who came forward at times with a particular patient's need, which is not dissimilar to how I gave my first donation. As a soldier, I was ordered to attend a donation event. Of course, it was a great, if perhaps, illegal order, but one that led me to become a donor for as long as I medicated. Clearly, the service was nothing like that service is today, which these volunteer donations of blood being provided regularly at transfusion centres and mobile units across Scotland. As the medical service progressed and operations became more complex, the need for a far more national co-ordination across the United Kingdom was required, co-operation by all four nations of the United Kingdom, which remains critically necessary today. At the time of devolution, the UK Blood Transfusion Forum was established, and this forum establishes the unity of purpose across the four nations, recognising that it is vital for all of the UK to ensure that there is a good quality of supply and that those bad suppliers are safe and available for all. This country, I believe, has a proud story to tell when it comes to developing blood transfusion services. We cannot ignore the fact that blood donations in Scotland, however, have fallen to the lowest level at any point in this century. Many patients we should never forget, as Fulton MacGregor has said, owe their lives to those people who donate blood, but I believe that there were 13,000 less donations last year. I believe that blood supplies have dropped significantly, and there are only six days of supplies of the rarest blood being minors, which is of concern. It is an absolute minimum that is required to meet the patient's needs across Scotland. As Fulton MacGregor says, we need to encourage more donations. Donations are simple and painless and therapeutic, because when you give your blood, you are a fact giving someone else life, laugh that they would be denied without that blood. In the 20 minutes that it takes to donate, you are giving a gift that is beyond monetary value, and that perhaps is one of the most generous gifts that you can give in your life. Giving blood is a very simple act of generosity, which can truly save lives, and that generosity is needed now more than ever. Therefore, I wholeheartedly support the appeal that is issued by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service for more donors to come forward, and I encourage everyone who can give blood. Who knows that, one day, just one day, your life may rely on the gift of blood that a donor has generously given. Thank you very much indeed, Mr Mountain. I look forward to welcoming you back to Parliament in person where we can compare our silver 25 donation badges over tea and biscuits. I now call on Jackie Dunbar, who will be followed by Paul O'Kane. Mr Dunbar, again four minutes, please. I am pleased to be able to participate in this debate today, recognising the work of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, and I thank Fulton MacGregor for bringing this important member's debate forward. The ability of blood plays an absolutely crucial role in saving the lives of patients who require it in their NHS. To be blunt, without the NSBTS and their donors, we would not have the NHS that we have and are proud of today. I would like to start off by taking this opportunity to commend and thank all our staff at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service and indeed all of our NHS staff across Scotland for their continued efforts throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. This motion highlights the incredible and concerning reality in that the number of people given blood has dropped dramatically over the past year, and we really need to do all that we can to encourage people to give blood when and where they are able to do so. I am delighted to hear of your pledge today. I myself have given blood on a number of occasions in Aberdeen, and I think that I have donated over 46 pints of blood now. I have continued to do it over the pandemic and I can assure everyone today who is maybe listening that all precautions are being taken place, so please, if you can, go and give blood. What I think is interesting to know is what happens to that blood after it leaves your arm and where it goes on its journey to saving someone's life. Once your blood leaves your arm and it goes into the bag, it is taken to a nearby processing and testing laboratory, where it will be separated into three components—red blood cells, platelets and plasma. It is then tested for viruses, and if all tests are passed, it is labelled up and sent out to one of our 39 blood banks across the country. Not a drop is wasted. In fact, I know from experience that sometimes a session needs to be stopped due to slow running blood and a full pint is not reached. Even that blood is not wasted. It is used for testing. That has happened to me, as I said, on a number of occasions, and I have learned the tricks of the trade over the years from drinking lots of water, crossing and uncrossing your legs, wiggling your toes and your fingers, just to try to get your donation flowing freely. Presiding Officer, I have been in the very privileged position to have been able to take part in the SNBTS awards ceremonies that normally take place every year in Aberdeen at the beach ballroom. The SNBTS is very aware and very thankful for the contributions made by their donors, and it is an evening that donors with 50-plus donations are invited along to receive a small gift and the chance for the service to thank them once again. As a former deputy provost and a councillor, I was proud to be able to present some of those awards. The donors do not think that it is a big deal for them to give up their precious time and blood, and they do not see it as doing anything special. But we all know different, so I am going to take this opportunity tonight to say once again thank you to all the donors. I will finish with this, Presiding Officer. To anyone who is able to, if you can, please give blood. If I can do it, anybody can. I am a fair-tafe when it comes to needles, and it does not help that I have only one vein that I can manage to give blood for, but the SNBTS folk in Aberdeen are brilliant and find that vein every time. You truly are in safe hands with all the teams at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service. You can save a life today, so please give blood if you can. Thank you very much, Ms Dunbarne. I wish you well in pursuit of your gold medal. I now call on Paul O'Kane to be followed by Rona Mackay around four minutes. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I begin by thanking Fulton MacGregor for bringing this important debate to the chamber this evening? I want to join him and colleagues in thanking everyone who works in the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, particularly during these unprecedented times. It is indeed incredibly inspiring to hear of the many thousands of people who take the time to give blood every year, and to everyone who gives blood across Scotland what you do truly transforms lives, and we are immensely grateful for your efforts. Indeed, the SNBTS amazing stories campaign and online page gives an amazing insight into the positive impact that donating blood can have. However, I want to draw attention to a story that I read on my local paper of Freya Pennington from Gifnook in my region. Freya, who is seven years old, attends Bradbar primary school and was diagnosed with leukemia and has had 14 blood transfusions over the course of last year. Her mother Louise spoke of the moment that she realised the importance of donating blood, saying that she had an overwhelming sense of gratitude for those who did. She added that, if you are on the fence about it or it is something that you have never thought about, please consider it because it is so worthwhile. It is stories like that that really can make all the difference, and it is so important that we share those stories in our own constituencies and regions to encourage more people to come forward and to give blood. We know that, last month, the SNBTS told everyone that there has been a 13 per cent reduction in the number of people who have donated blood, equating to 13,000 fewer people giving blood in a single year. We have heard from colleagues about the need to continue to do more to bring forward new donors. I am glad to see that please for more help to step forward and to donate blood are receiving widespread coverage. I hope that we begin to see an increase in the number of people doing so. Indeed, I want to also this evening speak about important steps that have been taken to widen the eligibility of people to donate blood. Indeed, I think that we have seen considerable steps and historic steps forward over the last year with the publication of The Everton space review by the UK-wide fair. That is for the assessment of individualised risk steering group. I was delighted and, indeed, quite emotional to see their recommendations to remove the three-month ban on donations from men who have had sex with men. Those recommendations were accepted in December of 2020, and their implementation in June of last year meant that that was the first time since the early 1980s that many gay and bisexual men would no longer be judged for who they are in blood donation criteria. Indeed, the outdated rules that reinforce stigma and were inconsistent with safer sex messages have been consigned, I believe, to the dustbin of history. It is thanks to the continued efforts of so many individuals and groups such as the equality network and, indeed, their development manager Scott Cuthbertson, who has campaigned on the issue for 15 years and organisations such as the Terence Higgins Trust, that we are finally able to take that progressive step forward here in Scotland. I must confess that, like many other gay men, I have not given blood since my early teens, but I intend to now and to return to giving blood in my community. I am reliably ensured that a tonnock's tea cake is still available after donating along with a cup of tea, and perhaps Fulton MacGregor and Jackie Dunbar and others could assure me of that. To conclude, I want to echo what we have heard already from colleagues tonight. I want to urge everyone in our country to take the time, if they can, to give blood, to think about the difference that it makes to people's lives in our communities. I also want to call on our local authorities to continue to ensure that there is provision of spaces and sites where people can attend mobile blood donation centres. At the end of the day, we have taken a huge step forward. There should not be barriers to giving blood where it is safe to do so. As I say, I would like to see far more people come forward and take the time to save a life, because that is exactly what they are doing. I assure you that you are not alone in having been lured in by the prospect of chocolate biscuits. Can I now call on Rona Mackay to be followed by Sandra Gohani again four minutes, Ms Mackay? Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am pleased to be able to contribute to this important debate, and thank my colleague Fulton MacGregor for bringing it to the chamber. Giving blood means giving the ultimate gift, and it does not cost you anything, just a short time out of your day, to give someone the chance of life or a better life. The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service is a credit to our nation. They have been providing safe, high-quality blood tissues and cell products since the 1930s, and that is quite a pedigree. I guess that if we are ever in need of blood, whether through illness or an accident, whether for ourselves or for our children, we kind of assume that it will always be there, and thanks to the thousands of donors it is. However, during this surreal time that we are living through with Covid dominating our lives and that of the NHS, it is more important than ever that there are enough supplies. That is why today's debate is so important, because it may reach out to people who have always meant to donate blood, and I include myself in that, as, sadly, Fulton MacGregor articulated in his motion, there is concern that Scotland has fewer registered blood donors than at any other point in this century. The number of people donating blood supplies has dropped by 13,000 over the past year, and estimates suggest that the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service needs another 3,300 donors per week to ensure that blood supplies remain at safe levels. In 2016, I held a member's debate in the chamber and had a resolution passed at our party's conference on the subject that Paul O'Kane has just excellently articulated, the subject of men who have sex with men being treated equally in regard to blood donations. At that time, a man who had sex with another man in the previous 12 months could not give blood, albeit that they were in a monogamous relationship. Clearly, these rules were a cake and made no reference to someone's personal risk of, for example, being a carrier of HIV, and a promiscuous straight person would be able to donate blood freely. Shockingly, if a same-sex couple's child ever needed a blood transfusion and they were a match, they would not be allowed to save their own child's life. Thankfully, that inequality has now changed, and in June last year, on World Blood Donor Day, new legislation came into effect across Scotland, England and Wales, which meant that donors' eligibility is assessed on a person-by-person basis instead of applying across-the-board restrictions. Gay men who, for years, have suffered from this discrimination could safely and happily give much needed blood. Presiding officers, many across the chamber have said that you just never know when you might be in need of a blood donation. So many new mums owe their life or their baby's life, as we heard from Fulton MacGregor, to someone taking the short time to give a pint of blood. What could be more rewarding than to think that you were responsible for enabling that? As the saying goes, not all heroes wear capes. They simply decide to donate a pint of blood and become a lifesaver. A special thank you must go to the staff, the really hardworking staff, enabling that to happen. Please, if you have one new year resolution to make that will really make a difference, please consider giving blood. It's painless, quick and easy, I'm told. Visit the SNBTS website to find out how you can donate where your nearest centre is and make that positive step. It's a step that's needed today as we battle our way through this pandemic more than ever. I thank Fulton MacGregor for bringing this debate. I was, for many years, an orthopedic registrar. I operated on a lot of people fixing their broken bones, but let me tell you about one of my patients. I was fixing their hips, something I'd done very many times, and normally quite straightforward. But no surgery is without its risk. It was halfway through, I realised that I couldn't see anything because my visor was covered in blood. Taking the visor off, I realised that I couldn't see anything because the wound was covered in blood. My patient was bleeding quite profusely. We eventually did get this under control, finished the operation and my patient got the blood that they needed via transfusion. They survived, they had a new hip and were absolutely fine. Imagine if we didn't have that blood donated by a kind citizen. Eight years ago, I was so excited to see my son get born. We went to hospital bouncing. I did, at least my wife couldn't bounce at the time. Things went wrong. My wife suffered a massive bleed. I was left holding my son, surrounded by a room covered in so much of my wife's blood that it made my previous story look like it wasn't a patch. Luckily my wife survived, she was given blood, she's absolutely fine. But imagine if we didn't have that blood donated by a kind citizen. For anyone who drives walks, cycles, plays in the snow, you never know if you will be the person that needs a blood transfusion. Numbers of donors have plummeted over Covid, as expected, but I urge you, everyone, to think about all those people who have accidents, surgery, cancer, all that need blood transfusions, and they might well be your loved ones, relatives and friends. Part of being a citizen is to help our fellows. Donating blood is easy. A simple and small, I promise you it's a small needle, into your arm, and a cup of tea and a biscuit. That was the case pre-Covid, but I'm hearing it's currently the case at the moment, which is wonderful. Most important, Jackie Dunbar. Thank you. Your tunic tea cakes are still available, but the tea and coffee is no longer are. It's just a drink of juice from a carton. Dr Gulhane. A cup of juice will be good, although a cup of tea was lovely afterwards. Most important, the person who is donating blood will have a feeling that you have helped a stranger in need. I think that that is one of the greatest things that you can do. Dr Gulhane, I now call on the minister to respond to the debate. I thank all the members for their contributions. I particularly want to thank all the blood donors for continuing to come forward in spite of the on-going pandemic. Blood donors are absolutely vital to keeping our NHS going, and they are saving lives across Scotland, as we have heard through the stories that folk have told in the chamber tonight. Throughout the pandemic, the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service has continued to provide enough blood to meet the needs of NHS Scotland, but demand for blood is fluctuating. The changes that are needed to keep blood donation safe during the pandemic has made it more challenging at times for SNBTS to collect enough blood, so I welcome Fulton McGregor's call for those who can donate blood to do so. I also want to take this opportunity to reiterate Fulton McGregor's thanks to all the staff at SNBTS for the work that they do to make sure that there are enough blood supplies. They work incredibly hard to ensure that the blood that they supply is safe for transfusion recipients. SNBTS has plans in place to ensure that there are sufficient donors, and they had a brilliant response from the people of Scotland to their recent radio, TV and media campaigns. That SNBTS amazing stories campaign highlighted personal stories of those who have received life-saving blood donations. In fact, those campaigns led to more than 1,000 people logging into the online booking system on the campaign launch day. That is a success. Thousands of existing donors with specific blood groups have been contacted, asking them to make an extra special effort to donate, and that work will continue. SNBTS has also opened a new donor centre in Livingston shopping centre, which has proved really popular with donors. Community groups are also being very supportive, and I would like to give specific thanks to Livingston Football Club and Heart of Midlothian Football Club, as well as in many workplaces throughout Scotland that have encouraged their employees to donate, in a sense that we might be able to co-ordinate something in the Parliament. Generally, SNBTS has always maintained supply successfully, but it has become more challenging given the ongoing coronavirus restrictions. Unfortunately, as has already been noted, we have seen a decrease in the number of people donating blood during the pandemic. The number of active blood donors in Scotland fell from more than 105,000 in 2019-20, as Fulton MacGregor said, down to 92,000 in 2020-21. At the same time, on average, the demand for blood has increased by about 5 per cent against pre-pandemic levels. The number of donors recently has started to increase again, and blood stock levels right now are good, so I hope that this will continue, and we all have a plaque to play in that. As Sandish Gullhane's story illustrated, we are all acutely aware in this chamber about the pent-up demand for elective surgery in our NHS, and as that NHS recovers, the need for blood donations will increase. In the past 12 months, SNBTS has welcomed over 12,000 new donors. That is great, but they would love to welcome more. I can reassure people that SNBTS has triage, hygiene, physical distancing measures in place to ensure the safety of donors at its collection venues, and yes, they provide biscuits and juice at the end, but sadly no cup of tea at the moment. Finally, I want to extend a thanks to COSLA and local councils and other venue providers for their commitment to working with SNBTS to provide suitable community blood collection venues in spite of the difficulties associated with the pandemic, and the competition for many of the spaces that are usually used for blood donation are being used as vaccine centres. In addition to blood donation, SNBTS delivers a wide range of other vital services, including living and deceased tissue donation and important research on regenerative medicine. We have received updated advice from the MHRA and the Commission on Human Medicine last year that it is now sufficiently safe to use UK plasma to produce immunoglobulin medicines. SNBTS is now collecting plasma from some of our amazing donors. Immunoglobulins are medicines that are often life-saving, particularly for patients with primary immunodeficiencies. Although collection levels are currently small, SNBTS is working on proposals to allow us to consider increasing those plasma collections in the coming years. SNBTS has also played an important role in supporting Scotland's response to the coronavirus. Back in 2020, SNBTS provided support with coronavirus testing. More recently, SNBTS has developed new T-cell therapy for patients with Covid-19, which is being trialled. Last but not least, SNBTS has also provided vaccine storage facilities and distribution for NHS Scotland. I want to pull out just one point from the debate—there were many good points made—but the point raised by Paul O'Kane and Rona Mackay about the increase in eligibility for donation is such an important one. It overturns such a long-standing discrimination and stigma. I, too, have been delighted—I mean, I have many friends who are now able to donate, and it is an absolute delight for them to be able to participate in this altruistic act, which saves lives. Each point that you donate saves not just one life, but it saves potentially up to three. It is a phenomenal thing to be able to do, and I am glad that more people are able to do it. In summary, SNBTS provides a wide range of important services to support patients right across Scotland. The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care visited SNBTS headquarters at the Jack Copland Centre in October to meet staff, and I know that he was really impressed by the range of work that they do. I will take a liberty of having a wee personal note here. I want to personally thank SNBTS, because I am one of many people in Scotland that is a very common disorder that has hemochromatosis, the genetic disease that is very common among Scots and Irish, and I build up too much iron in my blood. SNBTS makes it possible for me to manage that condition in a way that does not interfere with my work. I can peddle from here to the donor centre after work, give a pint and manage that condition, and I am very, very grateful for that. I know that it is not an answer for everyone, but it is an answer for me. I am personally and, as Minister, very, very grateful for all the hard work that goes on. I want to thank thousands of people who give up their time to donate blood, as well as the millions of Scots who have signed up to donate tissue and organs after they die on the organ donor register. Those crucial services could not operate without the wonderful gift from the donors, so I would encourage anyone who is eligible to give blood. You can find out more by going on the website scotblood.co.uk or by calling 03459090999.