Isle Of Wight NHS Trust Defends Electroconvulsive Therapy After ‘Barbaric’ Claim

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has responded to criticism of its use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), described as ‘barbaric’ by an Isle of Wight councillor.

Dr Alexis Bowers, consultant psychiatrist and clinical lead for adult mental health services and ECT at the trust, said that while there are “different views” about the therapy it is a “recognised evidence-based treatment”.

The trust issued a statement after Liberal Democrat councillor Michael Lilley decried ECT’s ‘continued use’ on the Island in a written question to the adult social care, public health and housing needs committee last Thursday (September 11).

ECT involves running electrical currents though the brain to bring about a brief seizure.

Cllr Lilley, a former mental health professional who currently serves as the Isle of Wight Council’s mental health champion, called the procedure ‘barbaric’ and said it was based on ‘poor medical/psychiatric evidence’.

He said ECT is ‘still actively administered’ at Sevenacres, a mental health unit at the St Mary’s Hospital site and referenced recent research from the University of East London (UEL), described as the ‘largest-ever’ international survey of ECT recipients.

UEL has said the study, led by Dr John Read, reveals that ‘most patients and their families report little or no benefit from the treatment’, and in many instances say it ‘made things worse’.

The trust’s Dr Bowers said:

“ECT is a recognised evidence-based treatment recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for people with severe mental illness where the patient chooses ECT based on past treatment experience, where other approaches have not worked or when urgent treatment is needed.

“It is given under general anaesthetic following careful assessment by senior clinicians. 

"It is provided to informal consenting patients or to those under the Mental Health Act with appropriate safeguards.

“We recognise there are different views about ECT, but for many people it is a treatment that can be life-saving and enables recovery.

"Our priority is always to provide our patients safe, effective care in line with national guidance and standards.”