Glasgow's Yorkhill Hospital was one which admitted retaining organs

Professor Sheila McLean, who chaired the Scottish independent review group, said there was a need for a "cultural change".

Ms Deacon said the Scottish Executive would "move quickly" to tighten up the laws on parental consent for removing organs.

She said: "I have pledged that such a situation must never happen again in Scotland.

"Improvements have been made over recent years and consent guidelines have been tightened, but it is clear from the Alder Hey report that we must do more.

"The Alder Hey inquiry predominately affects families living in England, and there is no evidence of such wholesale and routine removal of organs at any Scottish hospital. But we are not immune to the problem.

"Organs have been retained here without the consent of parents and the experience for each and every family has been just as painful as any at Alder Hey."

Procedure changes

She claimed the NHS had ignored the concerns of families in the past and needed to change to become "a service based around its patients".

She said: "I want to once again reiterate my determination that families in Scotland should never again face the pain of having a relative's organs removed and retained without their express consent.

Parents have called for a full public inquiry

"Following the work of the review group, if there is a need to tighten up procedures, we will take them."

Earlier, Prof McLean said that while she said steps had been taken to change consent procedures, the NHS needs to ensure it is sensitive to the needs of the next of kin.

She said: "At the moment the law is very ambivalent. It doesn't require that you give consent, only for people to find out if anyone objected to the removal of organs."

Prof McLean said that, in her opinion, it was focusing on the wrong thing.

She said: "I think what we are talking about is a cultural change that means that people are very sensitive to the needs and the wishes of these families."

Prof McLean is to pass the Retention of Organs at Post-Mortem review group's findings - which concentrate on the issue of consent in Scottish hospitals - to Health Minister Susan Deacon on Wednesday.