Scottish ECT Audit Network (SEAN)
Reporting on data from January 2024 to December 2024

About this release

The Scottish Electroconvulsive Therapy Audit Network (SEAN) aims to improve the quality of care for patients who undergo electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). ECT can be used to treat conditions such as mood and psychotic disorders.

This annual release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents a summary of the SEAN data for January to December 2024.

Main points

• 264 patients received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) over the reporting period, resulting in 277 episodes (or courses) of treatment (a patient can receive more than one course of treatment).

Figure 1 is a bar graph showing the percentage of all ECT patients by age groups (10-year groups starting at younger than 30 to 80 and older), then split into female and male. Males have a generally normal distribution, with a peak of 9.1% for ages 50 to 59, while females skew toward the older ages, with a 14.4% peak for ages 60 to 69. Overall, women have higher levels of participation in ECT.

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Percentage of patients receiving ECT, by age group and sex from January to December 2024

• 4,135 individual ECT treatments were delivered in Scotland over the reporting period.
• The most common condition requiring ECT treatment was depression, recorded in 66.8% of treatment episodes. Most patients were severely ill.
• Documented adverse events arose in <1% of individual treatments delivered during this period.
• Most patients reported no side effects during treatment. Amongst those who did, headache was the most frequent in the 24 hours after an individual treatment session. Memory complaints were the most common side effect reported over the course of treatment.
• 88.8% of patients showed an improvement in their condition after treatment.

Background

SEAN began in 1996 as a national audit project examining the clinical practice of ECT in Scotland. SEAN engages support from various clinical staff, including consultant psychiatrists, consultant anaesthetists, clinical psychologists, ECT nurses, operating department practitioners and recovery nurses.

In June 2023, the new Scottish Standards for ECT were published. This marked a shift in the audit's focus, prioritising the collection of pragmatic and clinically meaningful data on ECT, with particular emphasis on treatment efficacy, side effects and safety. As a result of this change, the audit will be able to provide high-quality, validated information that can be used to drive improvement in ECT at a local and national level.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be September 2026.