Leading mental health charity Mind says "immediate political action" is needed as NHS mental health facilities are "at breaking point".

Mind claims "patients' human rights are being violated" and "wrongly restrained" across "run-down, understaffed" mental health wards.

Its Raise the Standard campaign argues that a "full statutory inquiry" is the "first step" into resolving widespread issues.

Taplow Manor mental health hospital in Berkshire is closing after Sky News revealed accusations of failings there.

Staff are alleged to have overused restraint and medication on patients and not received adequate training. Police are also investigating a death of a former patient, as well as an allegation of child rape involving staff.

Separately, three teenage girls were found to have taken their own lives after major failings in their care at NHS mental health facilities across Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys in 2019.

The patients, who all had complex mental health problems and had been receiving NHS care for years, died within eight months of each other.

One of the hospitals involved, West Lane, in Middlesbrough, closed in 2019 after two of the deaths, but has since been reopened under a new name and a different NHS trust.

More than a third not confident loved one would be safe

According to Mind, more than 24,000 adults and 1,200 children are inpatients at mental health units in England.

A recent YouGov survey of 2,014 adults carried out for Mind found that 35% of people did not have confidence that a loved one would be safe under hospital mental healthcare.

Some 32% said they weren't confident facilities would treat their loved one with respect. And 68% believed the government should be doing more to protect patients from unsafe care.

Dr Sarah Hughes, chief executive of Mind, said: "One case of abuse, neglect or unsafe care is too many, people are suffering because of the shocking state of care in mental health hospitals.

"People should go to hospital to get well, not to endure harm. This is wholly unacceptable and must be addressed urgently."

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She added: "Mental health hospitals are at breaking point, public trust has been decimated, and we need immediate political action."

Mental health minister Maria Caulfield said: "We are improving mental health services across the country and will shortly publish the findings from an independent rapid review that focuses on improving the way we use data and evidence - including complaints, feedback and whistleblowing alerts - to identify patient safety risks and failures in care."

A further £2.3bn is being spent on mental health services in England every year from March 2024, which will allow for two million extra people to be treated, she added.