Salford Report ETC Patients' Attitudes - ETC Patients' Attitudes

Written by Juli Lawrence

There is a tension between seeking an absolute right to refuse E.C.T. and situations where the patient's judgement is impaired and they are suicidal.

The debate on the right to refuse E.C.T. needs wider moral and ethical discussion of the competing views.

Many patients at Meadowbrook were not aware of the independent advocacy service provided there by the Salford Mental Health Services Citizen's Advice Bureau. This service is not available to patients in the Elderly Service.

The main general risk with E.C.T. is that associated with repeated general anaesthesia.

E.C.T. is more commonly used in older people as they tend to respond well to E.C.T. and find drugs more noxious than younger people.

There is a need to listen more to and take more account of the views of patients.

Patients and carers should have as much information as they want about E.C.T. The Trust was developing a new leaflet on E.C.T.

The very high concurrence rate between the views of responsible medical officers (R.M.O.) and second opinion appointed doctors (S.O.A.D.) was because they were trained to the same standard.

The Trust recognises that there are still problems. It wants to continue to discuss the local service with survivors and carers in order to help make improvements.

The Trust was currently commissioning new E.C.T. equipment for the new E.C.T. Suite at Meadowbrook. Older E.C.T. were still being used, but were not considered dangerous and were maintained regularly and had not broken down since the new E.C.T. Suite had opened.

The period of time given to decide whether to give or withhold consent varies according to circumstances, but is as long as safe and possible.

It is recognised that one side effect of E.C.T. can be memory loss (at least in the short term). Long-term memory loss is rare and difficult to determine.

Compared to other alternative treatments, E.C.T. is better researched.

E.C.T. practice has improved over time, including in regard to machinery, anaesthetics, privacy and dignity.

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