A mental health campaigner from Falmouth has presented Cornish health chiefs with a petition with thousands of signatures protesting funding cuts for charities.

Following news that Rethink Mental Health will close in Cornwall, Sha Crawford, 37, from Falmouth, collected 3,437 signatures protesting cuts to funding for mental health. She presented the petition to NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group on Tuesday, December 20.

On October 4, the commissioning group decided to disinvest funding in a number of Cornish charities that help people with mental health and sexual abuse issues. Among those affected by the cuts are Rethink, Pentreath, Penta Health and Wellbeing, Regain/Nightlink, Carrick Mind, Restormel Mind, Sea Sanctuary, Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, and Cornwall Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre.

In the petition, Sha wrote: "Mental health provision in the county is unacceptably low. The community mental health team are underfunded and people with severe mental health problems are often turned away because there is a shortage of resources, such as community psychiatric nurses. As a result, charities are even more crucial than they would otherwise be."

On their website, KCCG chair Dr Iain Chorlton said: “We appreciate that some providers will be disappointed by our decisions, but it’s vital we only continue to fund services that demonstrate a clinical benefit or value for money.”

However, local people beg to differ, filling the petition with hundreds of comments emphasising the importance of funding for mental health, and the enormous role charities play supporting people living in Cornwall.

Numerous people left comments describing the death of loved ones who could have been saved with better mental health support. In 2013, the suicide rate in Cornwall was 13.99 per 100,000 population, compared to a national rate of 10.98. Campaigners said these losses and figures demonstrate just how strong the demand is for mental health support in Cornwall.

They added that assessments of charities’ low value for money is likely to be short-sighted. Funding services that emphasise prevention and stability saves the NHS money in the long run. They help prevent relapses and keep people with psychosis and depression from needing to use expensive resources such as the emergency services and hospitals.

NHS Kernow are looking into alternatives to support patients affected by the cuts.