The Conservatives have published research into mental health services, finding that 85 per cent of NHS trusts believe the government is failing on mental health.

Forum Response: Sane

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, said: "We have reached a crisis point in plans to improve mental health services in which the fundamentals of care - beds, nurses, consultants and consistent support in the community - cannot meet the needs.

"There has been so much change - the vision has moved so fast it has become blurred - that it is not surprising that Trusts are torn between priorities and confused about the role of new teams.

"What is clear is that the new 'flagship' initiatives are depleting the already starved core services and will not cope with the thousands who still struggle to get minimum care and attention."

Forum Response: Depression Alliance

Jim Thomson, director of Depression Alliance told ePolitix.com: "Looking back over our ePolitix.com comments, especially the ones where we have had a comment from the Department of Health, I am staggered by the number of times this government has got it wrong. The following are some of their 'best bits'.

"The introduction of a Draft Mental Health Bill which received 2000+ negative responses; the discovery by a committee of MPs that many of Britain's best medical scientists do not have enough money because the government's funding body prefers to support speculative projects that may never help human health; the revelation that vacancies in mental health are running at several times the average across the sector, with London particularly badly hit - the result being that many psychiatric institutions are over-crowded, badly run and downright dangerous for both staff and patients; and the announcement that women's mental health was to become prioritised, coming just a week after the publication of a national suicide reduction strategy that prioritised the mental health of young men.

"My all time favourite has to be the following quote from the Department of Health: 'The majority of people with mental health problems are not in contact with specialised services and many do not need to be'.

"And they still haven't told us what happened to that £75 million destined for mental health.

"The Conservative Party data on mental health is no longer shocking and I'm getting decidedly bored with saying the same thing: This government does not take mental health/illness seriously because it simply does not understand it.

"The lack of funding and consistent direction exemplifies this. The most frustrating thing is that we know there are some very good ministers and advisors in mental health but somehow their excellent work keeps getting thwarted.

"To top it off, when ministerial responsibilities were first announced after the recent reshuffle, there was no minister responsible for mental health - a crass oversight hurriedly corrected by the next morning."