There is huge pressure on our mental health services, even more so as people struggle under austerity and recession.

As the important piece in the Argus on Wednesday made clear, that strain is acutely felt here in Brighton and Hove where we have a very high level of mental health need.

Mental ill-health is something I have been working on closely and I know that the Chief Executive of the Sussex NHS Partnership, Lisa Rodrigues, is doing all she can to get the message out that she needs more resources and now.

People are being sent to other parts of the country and sometimes people who need a hospital bed are being sent home.

Yet, shockingly, it is a fact that in 2013-14 Sussex will once again receive less for providing the same level of service.  

The euphemistically entitled 'cost improvement target' for the Sussex Partnership Trust is over £13 million.

It beggars belief that this cut is being forced on the Trust at a time when our mental health services are under such increasing pressure.

The Government and commissioners must understand that investing in a full range of mental health services, so people get the right level of treatment, at the point that they need it, is good value for money.

It is wasteful and expensive, not to mention traumatic and damaging for the individuals involved if treatment is only given when people become severely ill.  

For example, I am worried that the Trust did not bid to continue to provide their successful and high quality recovery support houses, when their contract came to an end in the summer.

If, as I understand it, this is because commissioners were not prepared to retain the historic level of investment, this must surely ring alarm bells.

Some say our mental health services are in crisis, other say we're steadily approaching it.

Either way, for every person denied a bed because services are full, we are already at crisis point.

Ministers talk about 'parity of esteem' with physical health.

What they mean is mental health should be properly funded, along the lines that we expect for physical health.

It's good that they say so, but why then are we are at this funding crisis point?

In the near future, I am hoping to organise a round-table meeting in Brighton and Hove to bring people together and with the aim of making sure that the Government and commissioners understand the need, humanity and value for money in getting the funding of our mental health services right.

Looking after people properly when they suffer from mental ill-health is the right thing to do.

We have many dedicated people working in our mental health services but they need the belief and support of those who hold the purse strings - with the right resources, the savings will come in the longer-term.