This site is designed to complement the work of SEAN enabling communication of the latest information on ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy) in Scotland.
This audit has resulted in the publication of national audit reports and these can be found on on the Public Health Scotland website (external link).
Please use the Contacts page to pass us your thoughts and ideas onto the SEAN Management Team.
What's New
September 2024
The latest report for Scottish Electroconvulsive Therapy Audit Network (SEAN) (reporting on data from June 2023 to December 2023) - (external link) has been published by Public Health Scotland on 17 September 2024.
This release by Public Health Scotland presents a summary of the Scottish Electroconvulsive Therapy Audit Network (SEAN) data for June to December 2023..
Scottish Standards for Electroconvulsive Therapy (external link), published by Public Health Scotland on 1 June 2023.
Information for the Public
If you want to know more about ECT, please read the information about ECT (external website) leaflet published by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Translations of this leaflet are also available on the Royal College of Psychiatrists website - Translations of our mental health information (external website)
Please note that SEAN cannot give any advice on ECT treatment. You must speak with your psychiatrist or doctor, or that of your dependent’s, if you need to know about ECT or other treatment options.
About SEAN and Data Protection
This explains what you need to know about the Scottish Electroconvulsive Therapy Audit Network (SEAN) and why it is important for the future care of patients receiving ECT treatment.
What is SEAN?
The SEAN audit is one of the national clinical audits run by Public Health Scotland (PHS). Each hospital in Scotland where ECT is delivered collect information about the care of patients who have received ECT and compare it with nationally agreed standards of care.
PHS is a national special health board of NHS Scotland, jointly sponsored by the Scottish Government and COSLA, which launched on 1 April 2020.
More information about PHS is available at: www.publichealthscotland.scot (external website)
What is the aim of the audit?
To promote quality improvement in practice of ECT treatment delivery across NHS Scotland, to ensure safe , patient centred and effective procedures are used.
What are the benefits?
The SEAN audit uses this information to learn more about your care and treatment.
Including your information in this national audit helps us to plan future care and improve health and care services that will support patients who require to have ECT treatment in the future by learning about:
- how many people receive ECT each year
- the types fo illness ECT is prescribed for and which conditions respond best to treatment
- prescribing patterns across the country
- number of treatments required within each episode of treatment
- how severe the illness was before and how much it improves after treatment
- most common side effects
- how many patients benefit from treatment
- the standard of care patients received
How is the data collected?
The data are added to an electronic database used to gather all of the information about you and the ECT treatment that you have received.
What personal information will the audit hold about you?
Only relevant information about your care and treatment is collected. We do collect the following personal information about you:
- Name
- Postcode
- Date of Birth
- Sex
- Ethnicity
- Community Health Index (CHI) Number
- Your NHS Board
as well as the information about your care.
How do we use your data?
Audit data is collected electronically and held securely within PHS.
The SEAN team managing the audit collate and check the information. Personal information is only shared with clinical teams who are directly involved in your care. Other non-identifiable information may be shared with the SEAN group, Scottish Government and researchers.
This information may be used for local or national projects and as part of research, but individual personal information will never be published. The SEAN Steering Group controls who has access to the data. Sharing of the data is done only when appropriate, under secure conditions and with details that could identify you removed as far as is possible.
Will anyone contact me from the audit?
You may be invited to take part in other associated projects, related to SEAN in the future, but you will be informed about them and be able to decide whether you want to participate or not. If you decide not to take part this will not affect the standard of care you receive.
As the SEAN audit aims to assist clinical teams with improvements for all patients it is sometimes necessary to contact patients when they are at home.
if there is a need to contact you, it would be by telephone or post and permission to contact you will be sought before you leave hospital.
There are occasions when researchers need to access information about individual patients. There are strict processes they have to go through to do this and they cannot contact you without the approval of your doctor.
Do I need to do anything?
You do not need to do anything - there are no forms to fill in and nothing to sign. Your hospital will record all of the information relevant to your care on their information systems/ records. Relevant information will be manually entered to SEAN database by appropriately trained auditors. Secure automatic processes will then transfer only the parts of these data that are relevant to the SEAN database.
Is information about me safe?
Yes. We have to comply with the law to use your personal information.
The reports that the audit publish do not identify any individuals. PHS staff are bound by data protection legislation and confidentiality rules. All information is stored in ways that comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 on computers that can only be accessed with secure passwords.
Only NHS staff with specific security access can see any personal details.
Your Rights
Data Protection law gives you rights over how we use your personal details. These and other more detailed information can be found on the PHS website at:
www.publichealthscotland.scot/our-privacy-notice/ (external website)
Where can I get more information?
You can ask your doctor or nurse, another member of your healthcare team, or your hospital's data protection officers.
Or email: phs.sean@phs.scot
Website: https://www.sean.org.uk/