Administration of ECT in Irish mental health centres remains low
A report published by the Mental Health Commission (MHC) this morning shows that rates of administration of electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) in Irish mental health centres remained low across 2024.
The report, titled ‘The Administration of Electro-convulsive Therapy in Approved Centres: Activity Report 2024’, also demonstrates that 80% of relevant services were compliant with all aspects of the Rules Governing the Use of ECT last year, while 87.5% of services were compliant with all aspects of the Code of Practice Governing the Use of ECT.
The annual activity report provides information on how often ECT is used, the population profile of those who receive it, and details of the services providing ECT. It is the 17th annual activity report published by the MHC on the use of ECT in approved mental health centres and includes previously published 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 data for comparative purposes.
Data gathered across the year demonstrated that there were 315 programmes of ECT administered to 236 residents in 2024, representing a slight increase from 271 programmes administered to 205 residents across 2023. In addition, there was a total of 2,580 individual treatments of ECT administered in 2024, representing a 16% increase in comparison to 2023, when 2,233 individual treatments were administered.
Gary Kiernan, Director of Regulation for the Mental Health Commission, said: “The purpose of publishing this annual activity report is to assure the public that ECT treatment is closely monitored and regulated by the MHC,” said Mr Kiernan. “The MHC continues to observe overall high levels of compliance with the regulatory requirements in this area and we commend those service providers who consistently achieve full compliance with the rules and codes of practice which apply to ECT treatment.”
A programme of ECT may involve up to 12 treatments of ECT prescribed by a consultant psychiatrist. The average number of treatments per programme in 2024 was 8.19, while more than 74% of residents were administered just one programme.
In 2024, the average age of all residents who were administered ECT was 64 years, with those receiving the treatment ranging in age from 21 to 89 years.
2024 key statistics on ECT:
- 315 programmes of ECT were administered to 236 residents in 2024 (2023: 271 programmes to 205 residents)
- Rate of ECT programmes per resident was 1.3 programmes per resident in both 2024 and 2023.
- 74.2% of residents who received ECT were administered just one programme (2023: 74.6%)
- The average number of treatments per programme was 8.19 in 2024, as compared with 8.24 in 2023.
- There was a total of 2,580 individual treatments of ECT administered in 2024 (2023: 2,233).
- In 2024, 80% of relevant services were compliant with all aspects of the rules governing the use of ECT; a decrease from 100% compliance of relevant services in 2023.
- 87.5% of relevant services in 2024 were compliant with all aspects of the Code of Practice governing the use of ECT, a decrease from 100% in 2023.
- In 2024, 38 ECT programmes (12.06%) involved one or more treatments without consent, compared to 52 (19.2%) programmes in 2023. Section 3.4 of the Rules Governing the Use of ECT outlines the requirements for the administration of ECT in the absence of patient consent.
- In 2024, 2,346 ECT treatments (90.93%) were administered with consent while 234 (9.07%) were administered without consent. In comparison, in 2023, 1,844 treatments (82.6%) were administered with consent while 389 treatments (17.4%) were administered without consent.
- In 2024, 20 residents (6.35%) withdrew consent during their programme of ECT in comparison to 9 residents (3.32%) in 2023.
The report is available at the following link: The Administration of Electro-Convulsive Therapy in Approved Centres
