NHS bosses stand accused of letting down Maldon's mental health patients after cutting funding to the organisation charged with treating them.
A new system called "parity of esteem" means NHS spending increases on physical illnesses should be matched by similar increases in mental health services.
But Andrew Geldard, chief executive of the North Essex Partnership, which runs mental healths ervices in Maldon, said Mid Essex clinical commissioning group (CCG) and its predecessors had cut funding over the past five years.
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