Hansard

I commend Rona Mackay for bringing her important motion to the chamber for debate and for the work that she and many groups across Scotland have done to raise awareness of an important issue.

All members agree that the absolute priority for blood donations is to ensure that we have a safe and reliable supply of blood for those who need it. That means having enough blood to meet demand and it means ensuring, with confidence, that the blood that is available to the public is free from infection or disease.

Current trends in Scotland show that the number of registered blood donors has fallen by 30 per cent since 2011. At present, only 4 per cent of the eligible population—people who are aged between 17 and 70—are registered to donate blood. In preparing for this evening’s debate, I checked the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service’s current stock levels and they showed that stocks of type O negative blood are below the service’s six-day supply target. We owe a real debt of gratitude to the people who donate blood, but it is clear that more needs to be done to encourage those who are not blood donors to sign up and to give blood regularly.

The safety of the blood supply is, of course, of paramount importance but, as we have heard in the debate, the current rules are not focused on the safety of the supply. They were introduced in 2011 and placed a 12-month blanket deferral period for blood donations from men who have sex with men. That was a reduction of the previous lifetime deferral that had been introduced in the 1980s, but it does not go far enough.

The previous policy was born of fear of transmission of HIV and other infections to people who were receiving donated blood. The severity of those concerns cannot be downplayed. Since 2001, we have seen the number of HIV cases in Scotland rise annually—Health Protection Scotland calculates that 372 cases were reported in 2014. Of course, the rise in numbers can be attributed to many factors, including an increase in the number of people coming forward to be tested. Thanks to scientific advances it is now, with the right treatment, possible for someone living with HIV to have a normal healthy life expectancy if they are tested early and treatment begins as soon as possible.

Scientific advances mean that it is now appropriate to review the policy of a 12-month deferral period for blood donations from the men who have sex with men community, and to consider a new non-discriminatory risk assessment that is in line with those for organ, stem cell and bone marrow donations. As Patrick Harvie said, we know that testing is more accurate than ever. Nucleic acid testing, which is carried out on all blood donations, can detect HIV in the blood after nine days, which is a shorter window than for hepatitis B or syphilis.

It is clear that blood donation services accept that specific behaviours, rather than a person’s sexuality, determine risk of infection. A man who has had sex with one man in the past 12 months is likely to have a lower risk than many other people who are allowed to donate blood, including men and women who have had unprotected sex with different partners. If we assume that gay people are more promiscuous than heterosexuals, we make the same mistake as those who regarded HIV and AIDS as conditions that affected only gay men.

The issue raises the question—in light of the Equality Act 2010—whether it is unlawful to discriminate in blood donation on the basis of sexual orientation, because it relates to the provision of goods or services. Whether the current rules are lawful is an important question that we have to consider.

The 2010 act states that a donation can be lawfully refused if the decision is based on scientific evidence. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the scientific evidence does not make it reasonable to refuse donations simply on the basis of a blanket ban.

Labour very much welcomes the motion. As Rona Mackay said, the current rules are archaic and do not promote equality. To continue to exclude people who may be able to donate threatens the provision of a sufficient supply of blood, on which one in four of us will rely at some point in our life.