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MPs from across the political spectrum have called for a ban on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as a treatment for mental illness in England, and want the practice to be subject to an urgent inquiry.
MPs told The Independent they have serious concerns that women are disproportionally given electroconvulsive therapy, and argued that patients are not properly notified of the treatment’s potential side effects. Some patients have also reported that they weren’t asked to provide consent before it was administered.
Dr Pallavi Devulapalli, a GP, called for the government to undertake an “urgent and comprehensive review” of the treatment as she warned that patients’ wellbeing was “at stake”.
Dr Devulapalli, who is health, social care and public health spokesperson for the Green Party, said she has concerns that no new robust research has been carried out into ECT since 1985 despite there having been “multiple anecdotal reports of harm and distress, such as memory loss and fatigue” in those who have undergone the treatment.
Some patients say electroconvulsive therapy has helped their condition, while psychiatrists and the Department of Health and Social Care say the treatment is closely regulated and can help those for whom other therapies have failed.
The calls come after The Independent previously reported that thousands of women were being given ECT despite concerns that it can cause irreversible brain damage.
Health professionals warned that severe side effects can leave patients unable to recognise family and friends or do basic maths. The Independent previously revealed that ECT is prescribed disproportionately to women, who made up around two-thirds of all patients in 2019.
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Robin Walker, the Conservative MP for Worcester who chairs the Commons education select committee, said he had voiced concerns about ECT and that he wanted to ensure the government “is taking an evidence-based approach”.
“Given concerns raised about ECT, we should order a pause while the evidence is fully reviewed and it is ensured that full guidance is properly being followed,” he added.
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Marsha de Cordova, a former shadow secretary of state for women and equalities, said it was “deeply worrying” that women are disproportionally given ECT and that patients have not been “appropriately warned about the side effects”.
The Labour MP for Battersea added: “Given that this therapy can cause severe neurological impairments, I believe that it should be halted until a review has been completed on its long-term impact on patients’ health.”
It comes after Dr Sue Cunliffe, who began receiving ECT in 2004, previously told The Independent that the treatment had “completely destroyed” her life despite a psychiatrist having told her there would be no long-term side effects.
Dr Cunliffe, a former children’s doctor, said: “By the end of it, I couldn’t recognise relatives or friends. I couldn’t count money out. I couldn’t do my two times table. I couldn’t navigate anywhere. I couldn’t remember what I’d done from one minute to another.”
The fact that it is being used at times on women in a vulnerable position without their consent is particularly alarming.
Nadia Whittome
Layla Moran, a prominent Lib Dem MP, said the party backed calls from Mind, the leading mental health charity, to carry out a review into how ECT is administered as she warned that “patient experience and care” must be at the heart of any treatment.
Meanwhile, Nadia Whittome, the Labour MP for Nottingham East, lent her backing for the practice to be halted while an “urgent investigation” is conducted, saying: “The fact that it is being used at times on women in a vulnerable position without their consent is particularly alarming.”
Psychiatrists are legally obliged to gain an individual’s consent before administering ECT. However, if a patient has been sectioned and refuses to undergo ECT, the psychiatrist can decide they are not competent to make that decision themselves.
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Carla Denyer, the Green Party’s co-leader, warned that the treatment was “clearly being used beyond the very narrow recommendations issued by NICE” as she also called for an urgent review, which she said should examine why “appropriate talking and other therapies are not more readily available for clinicians to prescribe”.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists said the evidence-based treatment is mainly used for patients with severe depression, either when their condition is life-threatening or when their depression has not responded to other approaches.
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“As with many medical treatments, it can have side effects that vary in severity between individuals, and which need to be weighed against the benefits and fully discussed with patients, but most people who have ECT see an improvement in their symptoms,” a spokesperson said.
They said that ECT can help “people who are very unwell” to become well enough to “have other kinds of treatments”, adding that it can also enable them to “stay well for longer”.
“Banning or suspending ECT would mean that patients with a life-threatening condition are denied access to effective treatment,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said the therapy was “closely regulated” under the 1983 Mental Health Act, and that they expected healthcare professionals and services to follow to NICE guidelines, which are kept under regular review.
“In the draft Mental Health Bill, we are looking to strengthen this safeguard by requiring that the clinician gets approval from a second opinion appointed doctor before treatment can be administered,” the representative added.
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