This audit project examined the practice of ECT in England and Wales against standards set by The ECT Handbook: The Second Report of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Special Committee on ECT.

Fifty five clinics were visited in the former North East Thames and East Anglian regions of England and in Wales. A further twenty seven clinics in the rest of England completed a postal questionnaire.

The audit found that practice in ECT clinics had improved since the previous audit in 1991 but many clinics were falling short of the standards recommended in the second ECT handbook. In particular, junior doctors were often inadequately trained in the theory of ECT relevant to its appropriate administration.

Results were published in an article, Junior Doctors Training in the Theory and Practice of Electroconvulsive Therapy in the Psychiatric Bulletin Volume 21, p363 -365.