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To evaluate the accuracy of patient information leaflets about electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) used in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and their compliance with the principle of informed consent.

To replicate an audit in England, Freedom of Information Act requests were sent to the 26 providers of ECT for their ECT patient information leaflet. These were scored, by two independent raters, on the same 40item accuracy measure used in the England audit.

The number of accurate statements (out of a possible 29) ranged from seven to 20, with a mean of 16.9. The most frequently omitted statements included: cardiovascular risks (mentioned by five leaflets), that it is not known how ECT works (3), risk of mortality (2), risks from multiple general anaesthetic procedures (2), how to access a legal advocate (2) and that that there is no evidence of longterm benefits (1). The …