Responding to Nick Clegg's announcement on mental health services, Nuffield Trust Chief Executive Nigel Edwards said:
"The deteriorating quality of mental health services is a real concern and the Liberal Democrats are absolutely right to focus their attention on this in the next parliament.
"Nick Clegg has highlighted the current imbalance between how long people wait for mental and physical health services. This is backed up by new research to be published on Friday through our QualityWatch programme with the Health Foundation.
"We will show that there is cause for serious concern around the state of mental health services - often accessed by some of the most isolated and vulnerable people.
"The real test for the Liberal Democrats' policy will be how far it can go in meeting the growing demand for services at a time when the whole of health and social care is creaking in response to austerity."
Notes to editors
At 00.01 on Friday 10 October, the Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation will publish the second annual statement from their QualityWatch programme, examining the quality of health and social care in England.