Nick Clegg puts mental health 'at the heart' of manifesto

Nick Clegg is expected to announce new measures to improve mental health care in the UK at the Lib Dem party conference later today.

The Lib Dem leader will promise to provide a £120m boost to mental health services across the country, as well as the introduction of waiting time targets, The Guardian reports.

Patients suffering from common illnesses such as anxiety and depression will be seen in as little as six weeks, while those suffering from severe illnesses such as psychosis will be seen within two weeks, a timeframe on par with patients diagnosed with cancer.

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The party has made mental health care a key part of its election manifesto, calling it a "red line" issue and aiming to put treatment for mental health conditions on a par with physical health from 2015.

One in four people in the UK will suffer from a mental health problem in their lifetime and 75 per cent of people will receive no treatment. Waiting times for mental health treatment regularly come under attack from campaigners, as some patients report waiting over a year for treatment.

"It is wrong that relatives and friends needing a hip operation can expect treatment within a clear timeframe but someone with a debilitating mental health condition has no clarity about when they will get help," Clegg will say later today.

"I want this to be country where a young dad chatting at school gates will feel as comfortable discussing anxiety, stress, depression, as the mum who is explaining she sprained her ankle."

The pledge has been welcomed by mental health campaigners. "This is a landmark moment for mental health," said Paul Farmer, the chief executive of Mind. "People accessing mental health services have the same right to timely treatment that we all expect if we have a physical health problem."

However, some analysts have warned that Clegg's measures will not be enough for some supporters. "Setting goals in areas such as child and adolescent mental health services or for crisis care would have been much more ambitious," writes the BBC's health correspondent Nick Triggle.