ECTAS Standards
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information:
Developing evidence-based standards
The accreditation standards have been
drawn from key documents including the ECT Handbook (Royal
College of Psychiatrists, 2013), the NICE Appraisal of ECT
(National Institute of Clinical Excellence, 2003) and the
Scottish National Audit of ECT (CRAG Working Group on Mental
Illness, 2000). They have been subject to
extensive consultation with all professional group involved in
ECT and with service users and their representatives.
What the ECTAS Standards cover
The standards are intended to provide
staff with a clear and comprehensive description of best practice
in the administration of ECT. They are reviewed in October every
year and published in December.
The standards cover the following
topics:
- The ECT Clinic and Facilities
- Staff and Training
- Assessment and Preparation
- Consent and Information Giving
- Anaesthetic Practice
- The Administration of ECT
- Recovery, Monitoring and
Follow-up
- Special Precautions
- Protocols
- Clinics Practising Nurse-Administered
ECT (added in Thirteenth Edition, 2016)
How we measure performance against standards
The full set of standards are
aspirational and it is rare that any clinic meets all of
them. To support their use in the accreditation process, each
standard has been categorised as follows:
- Type 1: Essential
standards. Failure to meet these would result in a significant
threat to patient safety, rights or dignity and/or would breach the
law. These standards also include the fundamentals of care,
including the provision of evidence based care and
treatment;
- Type 2: Expected
standards that all services should meet;
- Type 3: Desirable
standards that high performing services should meet. .
These standards relate to the process
of administration of ECT for both inpatients and outpatients, and
in this regard are consistent with NICE guidelines. They do not
relate to clinical decisions about which patients should be given
ECT.
In order to be accredited, a clinic
must meet:
- 100% type 1
standards
- 80% type 2
standards
- 60% type 3
standards
Clinics that do not meet the threshold
for accreditation when their case is considered by the ECTAS
Accreditation Committee will usually have their accreditation
deferred by 3 or 6 months (length of deferral agreed by the
Committee). They will be given specific advice on the standards to
address and asked for evidence that these standards have been
addressed before the deferral period ends, at which point the
Committee may decide that the clinic meets these standards and
may be accredited.
Clinics may be given 'not accredited'
status if they fail to meet sufficient standards and do not
demonstrate the ability to meet them within a reasonable timeframe,
or if they fail to submit sufficient data for a full review to take
place.
ECTAS, 21 Prescot Street, London,
E1 8BB
Tel: 020 3701 2653
Fax: 020 3701 2761 Email: ectas@rcpsych.ac.uk
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