Electro-convulsive Therapy

HC Deb 17 February 1994 vol 237 c926W

Mrs. Golding

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans she has for banning the use of electro convulsive therapy on children;

(2) how many children received electro-convulsive therapy in the last year for which figures are available;

(3) how many hospitals currently use electro-convulsive therapy as part of their programme for treating mentally disturbed children.

Mr. Bowis

Treatment in any particular case is a matter for local clinical decision by the medical practitioner or practitioners involved who are familiar with the particular case and complexities of the condition. Information on the use of electro-convulsive therapy is collected not on a hospital basis but by hospital episode. According to the latest unpublished figures available, no patient under the age of 15 received ECT in 1991–92. An unpublished survey in 1992 by the child and adolescent psychiatry section of the Royal College of Psychiatrists recorded that ECT was used very rarely on those under 18 and only where patients were very ill.