CALLS have been made for mental health services to be fully funded to ensure improved treatment for patients.

Councillors requested that Brighton and Hove City Council’s chief executive Geoff Raw write a letter to leaders of political parties asking for a working group to be set up to challenge the delivery of these services.

The decision was made at Thursday night’s full council meeting, focusing on the need for “prompt and appropriate treatment” to be given to those in need, ensuring that patients can be treated close to home.

Labour councillor Caroline Penn, lead member for mental health, said: “We have a shortage of mental health social services.

“There is still that fear about disclosing mental health issues to employers.

“The clearest links to mental illness are social and economic disadvantage.

“Nowhere is more obvious than in this city.”

The letter to political leaders will call for an end to the “fragmentation” of mental health services and ensure that treatment and counselling can be provided regardless of a patient’s level of need.

It will also ask for a guarantee that everyone detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act is transferred to the best place for them to be cared for.

Councillor Steve Bell, deputy leader of the Conservative group, said: “Mental health issues can affect each and every one of us.

“We need to be mindful that these people are vulnerable.”