Developing evidence-based standards

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 Preperation
• Consent
• Anaesthetic Practice
• The Administriation of ECT
• Recovery, Monitoring and Follow-up
• Special Precautions
• Protocols

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 thier use in the accreditation process, each standard has been catagorised as follows:

• Type 1: failure to meet these standards would result in a significant threat to patient safety or dignity and/or would breach the law;
  
• Type 2: standards that an accredited clinic would be expected to meet;
  
• Type 3: standards that an excellent clinic should meet.

These standards relate to the process of administration of ECT and in this regard are consistent with NICE guidelines. They do not realte to clinical decisions about which patients should be given ECT.

Download a copy of the standards by clicking on the image above.