 We are in the home state. The final item of business is a member's business debate on double nine seven five in the name of Bob Doris on 75 years of Marie Curie. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put and I invite members wishing to participate to press the request to speak buttons now or as soon as possible. I invite Bob Doris to open the debate around seven minutes. It is a privilege to be leading the final debate in Scotland's Parliament of 2023 to congratulate Marie Curie on celebrating her 75th anniversary this year. That we have such a parliamentary debate just before Christmas is fitting. As many of us head off for our Christmas break, the work of Marie Curie will continue undiminished. It will provide dignified, respectful, caring and compassionate palliative and end-of-life care within a hospice setting and people's homes over the entire holiday period. That will not stop. Marie Curie staff and army of volunteers and fundraisers deserve her heartfelt thanks and support for all that they do, not just over the festive period but all year round, but more on that later. Our thanks to Marie Curie reaches back some 75 years since its inception in 1948. Marie Curie has provided palliative and end-of-life care and support to millions of people affected by terminal illness and those dealing with dying, death and importantly, bereavement across the UK. They serve the communities that I represent with hospice at home services across Mary Helen Springburn and beyond, as well as their inspirational hospice at Stolpill. I use the word inspirational quite deliberately. I extend that description to the wider hospice movement, including St Margaret's hospice in Clydebank, who showed great love to my father in the last weeks of his life. Marie Curie is inspirational. She is unflinching in the love, care, compassion and support that she offers those who are approaching end-of-life as well as their families. She has come a long way since the first Marie Curie home opened up in 1952, the Hill of Target and Cooper Fife. Marie Curie initially provided residential care for cancer patients and ran a home nursing service, with clinical advice provided primarily by GPs. Marie Curie's willingness to innovate, change and adapt has been crucial over the years—a theme that I will return to again, Presiding Officer. Marie Curie saw a significant change in the 1980s, moving away from providing long-term nursing care to cancer patients and increasing focus on palliative and end-of-life care in communities and in hospices. They were caring for more patients who were more seriously ill for shorter periods of time. Medical care is led by consultants in palliative medicine and specialised services provided by allied health professionals. Marie Curie hospices also developed a wide range of day services reaching out into their communities. The 2000s witnessed further change in innovation. Marie Curie committed to providing palliative and end-of-life care to all people diagnosed with their terminal illness, irrespective of their diagnosis and, in 2014, removed cancer care from its name to reflect that. There are two hospices in Scotland, the one in my constituency, of course, and the second being in Edinburgh. However, Marie Curie is a truly national service in hospice at home services in one way or another across 31 of Scotland's 32 local authorities. Marie Curie's report from July this year entitled How many people need palliative care demonstrates why we need Marie Curie and others more than ever. We need their expertise, dedication and their innovation. Pawn of care needs are set to increase by more than 25 per cent by 2048. Modelling work suggests that the number of 85-year-olds living in Scotland will increase by 90 per cent by 2048 to 257,000. We should celebrate and welcome that scenario, but we must also address the clear service and funding challenges that will be presented to the Government of all levels and the wider public sector and all delivery partners supporting palliative and end-of-life care. The growing challenge of supporting all those with multimorbidities who will be in need of complex personal-centred care and pain management of end-of-life is daunting, but it should also be cherished. Offering love, ensuring dignity and equality of life to all in such situations is the core business of a humane, caring and compassionate society. I said earlier that I would return to the support required. I welcomed the Scottish Government's recently announced strategy steering group to oversee the development and delivery of a new palliative and end-of-life care strategy and the associated work programmes. We can all agree with the principles that will underpin the new strategy, including equitable access to both general and specialist palliative care services and the development of a fair to inspire ethical commissioning and funding process. Mary Curie and Scotland's network of hospices and hospice at home services will be key partners in delivering those ambitions. They will also be key partners in developing and innovating new models of palliative and end-of-life care that will be required, just as Mary Curie has always done since her inception in 1948. I want to offer some suggestions to support that innovation. The debate on pay pressures and funding gaps within the hospice sector has been well rehearsed and, in the Scottish Parliament in recent months, a £16 million gap has been identified, driven by in large part by the hospice sector trying to keep pace with the very welcome and significant pay awards that the Scottish Government has made to NHS workers. Any new sustainable funding model for hospices must have an inbuilt mechanism by which NHS pay awards in Scotland recognise the clear and obvious knock-on effects on pay pressures within the hospice sector. That should form part of any ethical commissioning and funding process being developed. I would also note that some of the communities that I serve have significant levels of deprivation. Areas of deprivation are more likely to have a higher proportion of people living with multi-marbidities and at an earlier age, lower levels of healthy life expectancy, less financial resource and often more precarious support networks. That must all be taken into account when mapping out who we deliver, what is to be an equitable access to both general and specialist palliative care services that we are all committed to. Perhaps we need to start being explicit in legislation about the right to palliative and end-of-life care. It may focus minds and drive the budget decisions of those tasked with designing provision across Scotland in the future. I would ask the minister to consider opportunities that are presented within the human rights or the national care service bill that will progress through this Parliament to do just that and to work with myself, Marie Curie and others to achieve that end. Finally, let me conclude by congratulating Marie Curie on her 75th anniversary. As I began with a heartfelt thanks to all those who offer such wonderful palliative and end-of-life care. Of course, I wish everyone a merry Christmas and a very happy new year. Thank you very much, Mr Doris, and I now call Sue Webber to be followed by Jackie Baillie. Miss Webber, around four minutes, please. Yes, thank you, Presiding Officer. It doesn't seem that long ago that I hosted the roundtable on the dying and the margin study from Marie Curie and the University of Glasgow. Indeed, that was back in November, and there was a member's debate around that in the chamber. Then again, a few weeks after that, there was a member's debate entitled, Charitable Hospice Care to Meet the Future Need, which I led here again, and there are very many familiar faces in the chamber this afternoon. I want to thank Bob Doris for bringing the subject of hospices back to the chamber at this perhaps more poignant time of the year when the subject means more to most. I am therefore very delighted to have the opportunity to speak again. Marie Curie has done absolutely excellent work over the past 75 years, and she continues to provide vital services to those who need palliative and end-of-life care. She supports millions of people who are affected by terminal illness and those who are dealing with dying, death and, importantly, bereavement across the UK. Marie Curie is the largest charitable funder of palliative care research in the UK and the largest third sector provider of palliative and end-of-life services in Scotland for adults. There are two Marie Curie hospices in Scotland, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, as Mr Doris stated earlier and, in 2022-23, Marie Curie supported over 8,100 people in Scotland and, in 2022-23, around 8,815 people died in the Lothian region. 90 per cent of them had a palliative care need. Hospices are critical to this. Across the region, 4,060 visits were made to the 672 terminally ill people by Marie Curie hospice care at home teams. In November, I visited the Marie Curie hospice in Fairwell Head, and immediately I entered. There was a calmness and serenity that enveloped me and gave me a sense of wellbeing and care. I was given a tour of the facilities and had the chance to speak to members of staff. Early Marie Curie homes were housed in converted buildings, which were not ideal for the type of care that they delivered. The hospice at Fairwell Head was opened in 1966 and was the second purpose-built building opened by Marie Curie in the UK. It was designed to care for those who were seriously ill with advanced conditions. Over the last year, the Marie Curie hospice in Edinburgh and West Lothian service has supported a total of 1,690 patients through their inpatient, outpatient and, very importantly, community and day therapy services. A lot of people have a preconceived idea of hospice care, but most of Marie Curie's work is done in the community, with the majority of hospice care delivered beyond the hospice buildings and walls, out in people's homes and in the community. It gives people the option to die with their friends and family in their homes supported by teams of experts. Marie Curie has a fast-track team that helps people with tasks such as washing, caring and showering as they get close to the end of their life and, crucially, keeps them out of hospital settings. That team is essential to keep people in the right place and offers family support to relatives. It was disappointing that the budget this week made no mention of the support needed for the hospices to address the £16 million deficit that faces the sector. The rapidly growing need for the palliative care in Scotland means that it is vital that the contribution of hospices will become increasingly important. I hope that that will be considered going forward. In closing, I want to echo the words of Bob Doris when he spoke about Marie Curie's inspirational work across the country, how supportive they are to families and those at the end of life, and how innovative they continue to be. I thank Marie Curie for her 75 years of care and wish her very well in the future. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Let me also start by thanking Bob Doris for securing this debate in what is the final member's business of the year. I would also like to reiterate my thanks to Marie Curie as it celebrates 75 years of palliative care, of research and end-of-life services across the UK. The work that Marie Curie has done and continues to do to support millions of people affected by terminal illness, death and bereavement is absolutely invaluable to our communities and to our healthcare system. If Marie Curie is to have another 75 years of success, then urgent support from government is required. As Bob Doris said, we know that demand for palliative care is set to increase over the next 25 years and by 2040, two thirds of all deaths in Scotland will be in settings like care homes and hospices. The unmet need for palliative care remains significant, with one in four people not able to access support at the end of their life. Inevitably, as costs have increased, there has been a decrease in the amount of activity that Marie Curie and other charitable hospices can offer. As a result of rising inflation and the NHS nurses pay uplift, palliative care providers have been left, as we have heard, with a £16 million deficit. They have had to increase their nurses pay, rightly so, to be in line with the NHS, or they will lose staff. That is entirely linked to action taken by the Scottish Government, yet, disappointingly, there has been no offer of any remedial funding arising from Tuesday's budget. I hope that the minister will reflect on that further. I absolutely agree with Bob Doris. I thank colleagues for signing the motion to allow me to have the debate go ahead, but does Jackie Baillie agree that money is in very short supply and that we need a sustainable funding model for the future that takes all this into account going forward, not just a short-term solution but a long-term strategy? Jackie Baillie. I am happy on this occasion to absolutely agree with Bob Doris, but there is a need for something just now to help them over this hurdle, but to build it in, as he suggested in his own contribution, is entirely correct. Marie Curie and other hospices need more than just warm words of congratulation. They do need that sustainable long-term funding that Bob Doris and I agree on. The service simply cannot be expected to provide care over the coming years as demand rises when current funding arrangements only cover less than 40 per cent of their costs. Palliative care services, we all agree, are important. The people that work in hospices and palliative care are important. The important work is two thirds funded by donations from people, companies and trusts who decide to support the sector. I also want to put on record and agree with Bob Doris again my tribute to St Margaret's Hospice that does help people in my constituency and, of course, chars providing care for children with life-limiting illnesses. However, if the Government truly values Marie Curie and other hospices in Scotland, it needs to support them properly and should ensure, in my view, a minimum of 50 per cent statutory funding for providers. It should also assess the impact of future NHS pay awards on the hospice sector to ensure that funding is provided to allow hospices to match NHS pay awards for their staff going forward. Failure to do so will widen the gap between those who can and cannot gain access to palliative care, putting extra strain on the NHS and costing the taxpayer millions of pounds. Just as every person should be born with the very best start in life, receiving healthcare throughout their life as and when they need it, each and every one of us should have a right to die with dignity and care. The Scottish Government has a duty to prioritise palliative care staff and services in line with the work done in the NHS and social care sector. It must do more to support hospices like Marie Curie that, for the last 75 years, have done so much for the people of Scotland. For that work, they have our heartfelt gratitude. I would like to join my colleagues in congratulating Marie Curie on its 75-year anniversary. I am grateful to Bob Dorris for raising this important milestone for our members' debate. Death is a part of life and it is important that the fairness, equality and dignity that we aim to provide in life are also extended to those approaching death. Marie Curie's work over the past 75 years has made this a reality for many. In their capacity at the front line, Marie Curie has offered crucial insight into the needs and the challenges of those who care for it. I support their calls for more research to better understand the rise and demand that we face. Scotland's population is ageing and at a higher rate in rural and island communities. A disproportionately large amount of future palliative care is likely to be required in those areas. However, research in the BMJ has found that terminally ill patients living in rural and remote areas are at significant risk of being hidden and forgotten. I would like to see further research into the specific challenges that they face. Marie Curie highlighted the four A's—availability, accessibility, accommodation and affordability. Availability of resources from specialist teams and social care workers to equipment and technology is more limited. Accessibility challenges abound. Lack of public transport, poor road conditions, accessible vehicles and long distances. Accomodating the needs of terminally ill people can be more difficult due to a lack of accessible housing. Finally, affordability. Being terminally ill costs an individual between £12,000 to £16,000 a year on average. That is compounded by the rural premium, which puts terminally ill people in rural communities at a much greater risk of poverty. Applying policy designed in and for urban areas to rural settings does not work. Research to better understand how we can overcome those challenges is much needed. Thank you to Marie Curie for all the research that she has done over the years, which has been of an extremely high quality. I was pleased to be able to sponsor the exhibition of the Dying in the Martins report and photographs from Marie Curie and the University of Glasgow. I am sure that you will all agree with me that this was a very powerful piece of work. The loved ones of the participants who came to Parliament were very generous with their time. They spoke to me about their loved ones participating in the exhibition and that this was a legacy. It is up to us to ensure that this legacy is one of change and one of improvement. I call on the Government to support more research like this to ensure that no one is forgotten or left behind and that demand is met. Finally, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Miles Briggs, to be followed by Gordon MacDonald. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I start by paying tribute and thank you, Bob Doris, for bringing this debate to Parliament, the final debate of this session, and for his work chairing the cross-party group on pallative care. It is important that the cross-party working, which takes place in this Parliament on this issue, is recognised. As we look forward to Christmas just around the corner, it is quite telling that, for many families, they will be using the services that our hospice sector provides, and Marie Curie will be at the heart of that, especially for many of my constituents here in Lothian. To put on record our thanks to them for what will be a difficult time but also what must be a really good time for people celebrating Christmas, what might be their last Christmas and the work that the hospice will be doing to make sure that many wishes will be coming true for people this Christmas is incredibly important. Across Scotland, what our hospice sector does day in, day out, 24 hours a day, has to be recognised and understood. That is something that I really want to put on record. My thanks to Marie Curie and our whole hospice sector for what they do. However, we do know that, as this debate has outlined, I associate myself with what has been said by other members so far today, that there is a huge unmet need for pallative care in Scotland. Despite that, our hospices and Marie Curie are trying to provide that and fill that gap. There is that unmet need, with around one in four people not having access to pallative care support that they need at the end of life. As we have heard and Bob Doris's outline, poverty can often be an act as a barrier to accessing pallative care, and that is one of the key challenges that we must address. I was taken by Marie Curie's briefing for this debate when they compared a report finding from 1952, the national survey concerning patients with cancer nursed at home, and a 2022 survey that saw many overlapping problems that we have not resolved. That should be a real demand for all of us to step up to do that. We know that pallative care is increasing, we know that an ageing population will present more challenges for our health service, but that our hospice sector will be there, wanting to help to fill that. We as parliamentarians and the Government especially need to be there to help them. The funding problems that they are facing today and in the future really need to be at the heart of what Government looks at. We see a cross-party consensus on what needs to be a better deal for our hospice sector. That is shaped. Many people will have views and the Government has views on that. However, it is an emergency situation for some hospices who are using their own reserves now, and that needs to change. In the new year, I hope that the Government looks towards a solution. The new year will present opportunities for the pallative care sector, I hope. We have the national care service bill, and I hope that, unlike what we did as a parliament around the integration of health and social care, we will make sure that the hospice sector at the heart of what the national care service bill delivers. That is why I hope that the Government will also look towards a right for pallative care to be enshrined in that. We need to see the problems that that can help to address solved. A person would be able to have a prompt assessment, people wanting specific services developed, and the conversations around death can then take place in a positive conversation with family and friends and that individual at the heart of those decisions. I hope that the Government will very much take from this debate and previous debates that we have had in the chamber, that there is a real cross-party belief and ask of Government to look towards what pallative care means in Scotland in the future. I think that there is a real united opportunity for Parliament to do something that helps to sustain and take forward our pallative sector next year. Can I pay tribute, as others have, to Marie Curie for what they have achieved over the past 75 years? It is remarkable at milestone anniversary, but I know that they are not resting on any laurels. They want to make sure that they are for every family and individual. I also take the opportunity, Deputy Presiding Officer, to wish you, the chamber and those who are watching, a very merry Christmas. Thank you, Mr Biggs. I now call Gordon MacDonald to be followed by Carl Mocken around four minutes, Mr MacDonald. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I also thank Bob Doris for bringing this motion to Parliament for debate and to Marie Curie for her 75 years of providing pallative care across Scotland and the UK. The first Marie Curie home in the UK was opened in 1952 at Hill of Tarver in Cooper Fife. Since then, our UK hospice network has grown over the years with nine hospices offering in-patient and out-patient care and a broad range of day therapies to meet the needs of individual patients. As others have said, the two Scottish hospices are in Glasgow and in my constituency of Edinburgh Pentlands at Fair Milehead, which I have visited on many occasions, the last occasion being only two weeks ago where I took part in the Lights to Remember event at the hospice. In the last year, the Marie Curie Edinburgh hospice and the West Lothian care at home team supported between them a total of 1,690 patients through their in-patient out-patient community and day therapy services. I should point out that my wife is a district nurse providing pallative care to patients in West Lothian and works alongside the Marie Curie care at home team who provides support to those individuals. Demand for the service is increasing as Scotland's population is in ageing, with the census highlighting that in Scotland between 2001 and 2021, the over-65s had increased from 16 per cent of the population to 20 per cent, an increase of nearly 267,000 people in that age category. Although compared to previous decades, life expectancy for men and women is increasing, however, the downside is that that also means that those over-65s have more health problems and that the time spent in ill health is also rising. That puts pressure on our health service, including those working on improving end-of-life care. The Marie Curie report on how many people need pallative care provides very basic estimates of the future need, but it does indicate that there will be a significant higher need for pallative care in the future. The report states that the methods used in that report can provide a head count of how many people in the population need pallative care, but they do not indicate what the service implications are for meeting this need, what the gap is between need and the current provision of caring services, or which groups or individuals are most likely to miss out. More research is needed to model population need for different types of services alongside improved data on service access, outcomes and patient and carer experiences. That is a crucial point that the member is making. Will Gordon MacDonald agree with me that my point about the weaker support networks that ties with deprived communities and the more financial vulnerabilities means might need to put more intensive support in those particular areas more mapping need and provision in relation to pallative and end-of-life care? I absolutely agree with that. I will come to that point in two seconds. I therefore welcome the announcement in the report that the Marie Curie will commission research to help to answer the questions of population need for different types of services alongside improved data on services, access, outcomes and patient and carer experiences. Presiding Officer, it is important that we better understand what support people require as they reach the last few months of life. Therefore, I welcome the Scottish Government's creation of a strategy steering group to oversee the development and delivery of a new pallative and end-of-life care strategy. The aim is to ensure that everyone in Scotland receives well-coordinated, timely and high-quality pallative care, care around death and bereavement support based on their needs and preferences, including support for families and carers. The strategy will also aim to understand and respond to financial insecurity, housing, employment and information in accessible formats for everyone requiring end-of-life care in their families. I thank the dedicated staff at Fair Milehead, Marie Curie Hospice, who will be working over Christmas in new year for all that they do to support those people reaching their end-of-life care. I thank Bob Doris for bringing this very important debate to the chamber. Everyone deserves as pain-free and peaceful a death as possible, surrounded by those who love them and a place that comforts them and that the choice is theirs. I think that we can all agree that at some point we will all be touched by the death of a loved one, and should that loved one need end-of-life care over a period of time, pallative care, we would all wish that to be provided in the best way possible, with trained and sensitive care staff, passionate, as Bob Doris indicated, who have the knowledge, time and training needed to support both the physical deterioration but also the emotional needs of our loved one and their wider family. Marie Curie, as we have heard from others, has developed since its inception in 1948 to do just that. Can I welcome the work and commitment that Marie Curie makes to working with those at end-of-life, working in our communities nowadays, not just in hospices as we have heard but in people's homes and with our NHS? In my own region south of Scotland, it is served by NHS Ayrshire and Arn, NHS Borders, NHS Dumfries and Galloway, and I know patients from all those health boards and the staff hold the working relationship in really high regard. The report that others have mentioned talked about the visits, and in my own area 59 people in NHS Ayrshire and Arn in 22, 23, 95 in NHS Borders, and more than 4,000 visits in NHS Dumfries and Galloway. Every number above represents a person who may be in pain, be feeling overwhelmed and lonely as they approach those last days of life, and I, like others in the chamber, are thankful that we have this dedicated organisation, Marie Curie, who do their best to provide visits to patients in often very challenging circumstances. I want to raise three issues that have been touched on by others, but just that really struck me about the provision of end-of-life care and the provision of hospice care in 2023, almost into 2024. I think that we all agree that this is valuable work and a service that we want to continue. For that to be a reality, we need to address funding. We have heard statutory funding has not kept pace with hospices across Scotland and the £16 million deficit that we know is there. We need the Scottish Government to make clear what steps it can take to support the funding of hospices. That is linked to my next point, which is about staffing. Hospice staff are trained to the highest level. We have all agreed that. We all know that and need to be seen in a par with NHS colleagues. I will take an intervention from our colleague Paul Sweeney. She will recognise the immense public goodwill for hospice care across Scotland, exemplified by the efforts to rebuild the Marie Curie Hospice in Glasgow, which raised £16 million. Over half of which was from readers of The Evening Times around 10 years ago. Surely that shows the level of public goodwill to support hospices. With increasing demand, that sort of fundraising is simply not sustainable to grow the capacity that we need. It needs the state to intervene. I thank my colleague for that intervention. It is a very well-made point. We have addressed how much our communities and how much Scottish people value hospices. They would do everything that they could to make sure that the funding continued. We have a responsibility in this place as parliamentarians and, of course, the Government to make sure that we do everything that we can to fill that funding gap and have a plan, a sustainable plan, as Bob and others have mentioned. As I was saying, we need to not just value the work of our colleagues and hospices, but also value the pay gap and make sure that we have provision to ensure that the staff do not continue to have this pay gap. We do not want to lose staff being able to move to that sector because it is such an important sector. In my final seconds, I want to just raise the point that I have raised many times in the chamber, which is about the injustice of inequality. Others have raised it, so I am not going to labour the point. However, people in the chamber have mentioned the margins in the dying exhibition and I think that we all know that a picture expresses a thousand words. The richest of us can often afford to stay at home and receive daily care directly in the place that we have lived and prospered. However, for those who have suffered through their life and struggled to make ends meet so often, that option does not exist and they leave their life in the same sense of powerlessness that they have had in other aspects of their life. It is simply not right that that happens. I am going to close on that point. Surely, in a time of need like the end of life, we must be looking to find solutions to provide the support, care and comfort all that is necessary. I thank you for the opportunity to speak in this debate and I too would like to start by paying tribute to Bob Doris for bringing the motion to the chamber today to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Marie Curie. It was great to hear from my colleague Gordon MacDonald because one of my earliest memories of being in MSP was Gordon MacDonald and I meeting at Ainsley Park swimming pool in my constituency to throw our support behind a swimathon to raise money for Marie Curie. I say that first of all to pay tribute to all those who have undertaken fundraising initiatives over those 75 years to support the work of Marie Curie. Also, the reason that I was invited by Marie Curie to be part of that support for that fundraising initiative, along with Gordon MacDonald. Gordon MacDonald talked about the hospice in his constituency and my constituency of Edinburgh Northern and Leith at Lynx Place, our Marie Curie's offices. The reason I wanted to mention that and speak today is to pay tribute to not just those providing palliative care, as others have rightly emphasised, but it is important that we pay tribute to the organisational team at Marie Curie and the policy team. I think back to my time as an MSP and what a significant contribution those policy teams have made towards a range of parliamentary considerations and activities, including this debate today. Particularly for myself, I remember the input from Marie Curie during the process of the passing of the Social Security Act 2018. I can say, along with the input of many other stakeholders, that that is a better piece of legislation because of the input of Marie Curie. Since the passing of that act, the implementation of social security in Scotland has benefited from much advice and ideas and emphasis on certain areas from Marie Curie. As we recognise the huge contribution that Marie Curie has made over its years of existence towards providing palliative care and enhancing palliative care and making the case for palliative care, the policy teams throughout that time and particularly in recent years in terms of the experience that I can advocate for have made a really important difference towards the process of policy-making and law-making. I, too, would like to thank Bob Doris for bringing the motion for this debate and to those in the chamber for their contributions. Mr Doris has been a champion of our palliative care for many years now, as is evident in his role as co-convener of the CPG on palliative care alongside Miles Briggs. Through his tireless work in and out of the chamber to support Marie Curie and other hospice services, I agree with many members that have said that it is poignant to be here today having this debate. It would also be remiss, particularly given my role as the Minister for Women's Health if I did not pay tribute to the woman who made all this possible, Marie Curie herself. Her life was dedicated to science and advancing our knowledge of medical physics. She is an inspiration to me and I know to many women across the world. Like the organisation that bears her name, we have much to thank her for. If you might indulge me, I would like to quote from Marie Curie, Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be misunderstood. Now is the time to understand more so that we may fear less. I think that that is particularly poignant given the subjects that we are talking about today. I congratulate Marie Curie on her achievements over the last 75 years and the staff and volunteers who have pioneered palliative and end-of-life care. Marie Curie has provided invaluable support to people and their families at the most challenging points of their lives, as well as supporting other health and social care services and teams delivering palliative care and end-of-life care. I note Ben Macpherson's point about the importance of their policy team supporting the Social Security Scotland Act and know that they have a lot to engage with with regards to palliative care as well. Many colleagues across the chamber have already reflected how much Marie Curie's services mean to them personally, to their families and to their constituents. That highlights the broad scope and reach of Marie Curie's work and why it is so important. As Carol Mockin says, it is delivered in hospices, in communities and in people's own homes. Bob Doris's motion also highlights the increased need and complexity of palliative care projected by Marie Curie research up to 2040. We have also reflected on that during the motion brought by Sue Webber earlier this month and the debate that we had about the cost of dying. Both discussed in the context of sustainable hospice care to meet future need. As Bob Doris has said, Marie Curie is well placed to help with this challenge. In 2022-23 alone, Marie Curie has delivered care and support to more than 8,000 people across Scotland. It is therefore vital that we learn from the wealth of experience brought by organisations such as Marie Curie to inform our work and support the development of sustainable, high-quality palliative and end-of-life care services. As I have said before, I have made it a priority to meet with or visit a number of hospices, as well as convening the round table event on 5 December with Marie Curie among all the other independent hospices in Scotland and health and social care partnership chief officers. Discussion, as I have said, at that meeting was open and Franken was valued by participants who noted that this was the first time that this dialogue had been opened. They were grateful for the chance to discuss these important issues, even though the financial situation remains very challenging. I recognise the £15.5 million gap. I will strive to help where I can. As health and social care partnerships are responsible for planning and commissioning adult palliative care services, we have been engaging with them to explore solutions and options for longer-term sustainable planning and funding for hospices. At the meeting, colleagues also welcomed our wider work on the development of a new palliative care strategy. There are real opportunities to address the specific issue of commissioning independent hospice care through wider consideration of national and local leadership, responsibility and accountability by the strategy steering group, which was established to oversee the development and delivery of the new strategy. Miles Briggs. Taking this intervention, one of the key issues that we need to look towards was, previously, before health and social care integration, a chief exec's letter provided that certainty and opportunity for our hospice sector to fund the work that it does. Is the minister looking at what that could potentially be reformed as part of the national care service to achieve that sustainable funding that the sector so desperately needs? I know that Miles Briggs' intervention there. The care service does not sit within my remit, but I will discuss that with Ms Todd. I recognise that. The aim is to publish the new strategy for consultation in spring 2024. Marie Curie are key partners in our strategy steering group, along with the Scottish hospice leadership group and CHAS. We have all agreed a shared aim that everyone in Scotland receives well-coordinated timely and high-quality palliative care around death and bereavement support, based on their needs and preferences, including support for families and carers. I very much appreciate Evelyn Tweed's comments regarding rural and island areas, given where I live. I know that Marie Curie nurses operate in my constituency, and we also need to recognise inequalities across Scotland, as was highlighted by Gordon MacDonald. We also have a shared principle that we are committed to equitable and timely access to general palliative care and specialist palliative care services, as is needed by each person of any age living with any illness in all places. As Carol Mockin said, putting the individual at the heart. The key question is how to achieve timely and equitable access. I am keen that we continue to focus our improvements through the development and delivery of the new palliative care strategy. We will build on the research published by Marie Curie and develop a strategy based on evidence, including our wider analysis of current and projected needs, our mapping of governance services and support, underpinned by what matters to people and their families, based on their understanding and experiences of palliative care. It will be important for the strategy steering group members to continue to engage with us, as I know that they are already doing, with the national care service legislation and forthcoming human rights bill. We want people to receive care where they feel most comfortable wherever possible. I apologise for interrupting the minister. I am listening very carefully to what you are saying. Earlier on, the minister mentioned that the national care service bill was Ms Todd's responsibility. Obviously, the human rights bill will be another minister's responsibility, and, Ms Minto, you have a cross-cutting responsibility for palliative end-of-life care. What assurances can we have that there will be a single point of contact for MSPs that wish to progress the matter within Parliament on a cross-party basis to have those representations so that it does not get fragmented as we move forward? Mr Doris makes a very good point. It was the one that I recognised when I was on the back benches about who is the right person to speak to. I will take that away and make sure that we have absolute clarity on who and on which minister is the appropriate one to be contacting. I will start my final sentence again. We want people to receive care where they feel most comfortable wherever possible. For many, but not all, this will be at home, supported by their family, friends and care staff. For some, it will be in a hospice. I would like to conclude by again thanking all those working in Marie Curie for the commitment and dedication that they show each day, often in extremely challenging and upsetting circumstances. I would like to offer my personal thanks for all that they do every single day of the year. If I may conclude with another Marie Curie quote, which I will certainly be considering over the Christmas break, one never notices what has been done, one can only see what remains to be done. On that note, I wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a good new year when it comes. Thank you minister. That concludes the debate. Let me be the last to take the opportunity to wish all those in the chamber and in the gallery and particularly all those with a connection to Marie Curie, a merry Christmas and a happy healthy 2024. With that, I close this meeting.