Dear Mrs. Micklewright
I am writing in response to your request for information, made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which was received by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) on 15th May 2025.
The information that we hold and are able to provide under the Act and within the “Fees Limit” is attached or listed below.
FOI REQUEST – 24 FOI 320
Please provide Electro Convulsive Treatment (ECT) information under the FOI act to the following questions: -
1.Please supply patient’s information ECT leaflet
Please see attached
2.Please supply patient ECT consent form
Please see attached
3.Please supply any ECT reports/investigations
NA
4.How many ECT in 2024?
800
5.What proportion of patients were men/women?
|
Gender |
Count of Distinct Patients |
% of Distinct Patients |
|
Female |
31 |
64.58% |
|
Male |
17 |
35.42% |
|
Grand Total |
48 |
100.00% |
6.How old were they?
|
Age Groups |
Count of Distinct Patients |
|
20-29 |
5 |
|
30-39 |
4 |
|
40-49 |
5 |
|
50-59 |
8 |
|
60-69 |
10 |
|
70-79 |
11 |
|
80-90 |
4 |
|
>90 |
1 |
|
Grand Total |
48 |
7.What proportion of patients were classified people of the global majority or racialised
|
Ethnicity |
Count of Distinct Patients |
% of Distinct Patients |
|
Asian or Asian British - Any other Asian background |
3 |
6.25% |
|
Asian or Asian British - Indian |
4 |
8.33% |
|
Black or Black British - African |
2 |
4.17% |
|
Black or Black British - Any other Black background |
2 |
4.17% |
|
Mixed - Any other mixed background |
3 |
6.25% |
|
Not stated |
4 |
8.33% |
|
White - Any other White background |
2 |
4.17% |
|
White - British |
20 |
41.67% |
|
Asian or Asian British - Pakistani |
1 |
2.08% |
|
Other Ethnic Groups - Any other ethnic group |
4 |
8.33% |
|
White - Irish |
2 |
4.17% |
|
Not known |
1 |
2% |
|
Grand Total |
48 |
100% |
communities ("POC / BAME")?
Information Not collated
8.How many people covered by the equality act - specific protected characteristics - excluding age + gender - received ECT ?
Information Not collated
9.How many people were offered talking therapy prior to ECT ?
Information not collated
10.How many were receiving ECT for the first time?
33
11.How many patients consented to ECT?
Refer to ECTAS database
12.How many ECT complaints were investigated outside the NHS ?
We only deal with matters reported to CNWL. We don't hold any information outside
CNWL
13.How many patients died during or 1 month after ECT and what was the cause (whether or not ECT was considered the cause)?
0
14.How many patients died within 6 months after ECT and what was the cause (whether or not ECT was considered the cause)?
Less than five
15.How many patients died by suicide within 6 months of receiving ECT (whether or not ECT was considered the cause)?
0
16.How many patients have suffered complications during and after ECT and what were those complications?
0
17.Have there been any formal complaints from patients/relatives about ECT?
No complaints found
18.If so, what was their concerns?
N/A
19.How many patients report memory loss/loss of cognitive function?
refer to ECTAS
20.What tests are used to assess memory loss/loss of cognitive function?
NICE /NHS approved tests
21.Have MRI or CT scans been used before and after ECT?
N/A
22.If so, what was the conclusion?
N/A
23.How does the Trust plan to prevent ECT in the future?
N/A
Please provide restraints information under the FOI act to the following questions: -
1.Please supply any Restraints/investigations
All incidents involving restraints are investigated, due to the number of these we
would not be able to supply these as it would take in excess of 18 hours.
2.How many RESTRAINTS in 2024?
2,409 restraints were reported in 2024
3.What proportion of patients were men/women?
46% female, 54% male.
4.How old were they?
|
Age band |
Percentage |
|
9% |
|
|
19-25 |
20% |
|
26-35 |
26% |
|
36 – 45 |
20% |
|
46 - 55 |
10% |
|
56-65 |
9% |
|
Over 65 |
7% |
5.What proportion of patients were classified people of the global majority or racialised communities ("POC / BAME")?
|
Ethnicity group |
|
|
Asian |
12% |
|
Black |
31% |
|
Mixed |
10% |
|
Not known |
9% |
|
Other |
12% |
|
White |
28% |
6.How many people covered by the equality act - specific protected characteristics - excluding age + gender - were restrained?
This is not collected and would take in excess of 18 hours to examine the patient
records.
7.How many RESTRAINTS were investigated outside the NHS?
This information is not collected and would take in excess of 18 hours to examine the patient records.
8.How many patients died during or 1 month after RESTRAINTS and what was the cause (whether or not RESTRAINTS was considered the cause)? There were zero deaths during restraint.
We do not have this information accessible and to source this would take in excess
of 18 hours.
9.How many patients died within 6 months after RESTRAINTS and what was the cause (whether or not RESTRAINTS was considered the cause)?
We do not have this information accessible and to source this would take in excess
of 18 hours.
10.How many patients died by suicide within 6 months of receiving RESTRAINTS (whether or not RESTRAINTS was considered the cause)?
We do not have this information accessible and to source this would take in excess
of 18 hours.
11.How many patients have suffered complications during and after RESTRAINTS and what were those complications?
It is unclear what the requestor means by complications and therefore unable to
answer this question.
12.Have there been any formal complaints from patients/relatives about RESTRAINTS?
7 complaints where restraint is specifically mentioned
13.If so, what was their concerns?
We do not have this information accessible and to source this would take in excess
of 18 hours.
14.Are counts of forced injections available? if so how many people were forcible injected?
Systems are in place to monitor the use of rapid tranquillisation.
15.How does the Trust plan to reduce restraints in the future?
Please see attached Reducing Restrictive Practices Strategy.
16.How many of these restraints were face down restraints?
There were 184 prone restraints in 2024.
Please provide SECLUSION information under the FOI act to the following questions: -
1.Please supply any SECLUSION reports/investigations
All incidents involving seclusion are investigated, and due to the number of these we would not be able to supply these as it would take in excess of 18 hours.
2.How many SECLUSIONS in 2024?
503
3.What proportion of patients were men/women?
32% female, 68% male.
4.How old were they?
|
Age Group |
Percentage |
|
Under 18 |
6% |
|
19-25 |
22% |
|
26-35 |
38% |
|
36 – 45 |
23% |
|
46 - 55 |
7% |
|
56-65 |
6% |
|
Over 65 |
0% |
5.What proportion of patients were classified people of the global majority or racialised communities ("POC / BAME")?
|
Ethnicity group |
|
|
Asian |
12% |
|
Black |
38% |
|
Mixed |
12% |
|
Not known |
6% |
|
Other |
13% |
|
White |
20% |
6.How many people covered by the equality act - specific protected characteristics - excluding age + gender - were secluded?
This is not collected and would take in excess of 18 hours to examine the patient
records.
7.How many SECLUSIONS were investigated outside the NHS?
This information is not collected and would take in excess of 18 hours to examine the patient records
8.How many patients died during or 1 month after SECLUSION and what was the cause (whether or not SECLUSION was considered the cause)?
No patients died during seclusion. Regarding deaths 1 month after seclusion, we do not have this information accessible and to source this would take in excess
of 18 hours.
9.How many patients died within 6 months after SECLUSION and what was the cause (whether or not SECLUSION was considered the cause)?
We do not have this information accessible and to source this would take in excess
of 18 hours.
10.How many patients died by suicide within 6 months of receiving SECLUSION (whether or not SECLUSION was considered the cause)?
We do not have this information accessible and to source this would take in excess
of 18 hours.
11.How many patients have suffered complications during and after SECLUSION and what were those complications?
It is unclear what the requestor means by complications and therefore unable to
answer this question.
12.Have there been any formal complaints from patients/relatives about SECLUSION?
6 complaints where restraint is specifically mentioned
13.If so, what was their concerns?
We do not have this information accessible and to source this would take in excess of 18 hours.
14.How does the Trust plan to reduce SECLUSIONS in the future?
The Reducing Restrictive Practices Strategy includes seclusion and is attached
Please provide MEDICATION ERRORS information under the FOI act to the following questions:
1.Please supply any MEDICATION ERRORS reports/investigations
Not appropriate to share Datix medication incident reports – contains too much
detailed investigation information.
Same response as last year
2.How many MEDICATION ERRORS in 2024?
There were 1895 incidents reported on Datix in 2024 under category ‘Medication. However approximately half of these were not CNWL staff errors – they related to errors our staff identified from other Acute Trusts, GPs, community pharmacies, care agencies, prison staff or patient/ relatives themselves. 99% of the errors resulted in no or low harm.
3.What proportion of patients were men/women?
We don’t collect this information specifically, unable to respond
Same response as last year
4.How old were they?
We don’t collect this information specifically, unable to respond
5.What proportion of patients were classified people of the global majority or racialised communities ("POC / BAME")?
We don’t collect this information specifically, unable to respond
6.How many people covered by the equality act - specific protected characteristics - excluding age + gender - endured medication errors ?
We don’t collect this information specifically, unable to respond
7.How many MEDICATION ERRORS were investigated outside the NHS ?
All incidents which are reported by CNWL staff are investigated within the organisation, we do not hold information regarding external investigations, and to collate this would take in excess of 18 hours.
8.How many patients died during or 1 month after MEDICATION ERRORS and what was the cause (whether or not MEDICATION ERRORS was considered the cause)?
0 incidents where death is recorded as a direct result of a medication error are
recorded.
9.How many patients died within 6 months after MEDICATION ERRORS and what was the cause (whether or not MEDICATION ERRORS was considered the cause)?
6 patients died within 6 months of a medication error, no deaths were related to the medication errors, 4 deaths were expected and 2 unexpected, causes of death as documented in the Incident reports were 2 Not Stated, 1 Cardiac Arrest, 1 COPD, 1 Stroke, 1 Blood Clots
10.How many patients died by suicide within 6 months of receiving MEDICATION ERRORS
(whether or not MEDICATION ERRORS was considered the cause)?
No patients died by suicide within 6 months of a medication error
11.How many patients have suffered complications during and after MEDICATION ERRORS and what were those complications?
We do not hold this information.
12.Have there been any formal complaints from patients/relatives
total of 10 complaints which specifically refers to dispensing, prescribing or recording errors
13.If so, what was their concerns?
– Concerns:
We do not have this information accessible and to source this would take in excess
of 18 hours.
14.How does the Trust plan to prevent MEDICATION ERRORS in the future?
We regularly share learning from medication incidents across the Trust e.g. in
bulletins, webinars, Clinical Message of the Week. (We can share an example with
the enquirer if wanted)
Please contact me if you have any queries about this letter, when contacting please quote the reference number above in any future communications relating to this request.
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any noncommercial research you are doing. Any other reuse, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.
If you are dissatisfied with the response you have received, you have the right to request a review of our decision or make a complaint about how your request has been handled. In respect of this, please contact the Trust Head of Information Governance and Data Protection Officer via email at cnwl.dpo@nhs.net.
Your request should be made within two months of receipt of this letter and we will reply within 20 working days of receipt. Any such request received after two months will only be considered at the discretion of the Trust.
If you are still unsatisfied, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner is the statutory regulator for the Freedom of Information Act. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the procedures provided by the Trust. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Officer