''The Rudd Government is publicly claiming credit for the increased investment in mental health when almost all of this is a consequence of the work of the Howard government,'' he wrote in the letter, obtained by The Sunday Age. Professor Mendoza wrote that he had regarded his appointment as chairman of the council ''as the most important public service responsibility of my life'' but he now realised that his efforts to improve mental health services and ''end the shameful neglect of … some of the most vulnerable of all Australians'' would be better used in other roles. Professor Mendoza declined to discuss his resignation, but he told The Sunday Age that he was especially concerned about the lack of funding for the rapidly growing number of mentally ill young people, describing the money set aside for services for this group as ''appalling''. He said the mental health system was destroying families and the government was failing to deal with the crisis. ''Families are left in appalling situations where there is nowhere to turn for help,'' Professor Mendoza said. His resignation comes as figures leaked to The Sunday Age reveal the expansion of the Better Access program, which provides rebates under Medicare for services such as GP mental health plans and visits to psychologists. Most experts on the government's advisory council now believe the expensive program is sucking money from where it is desperately needed - services for mentally unwell young people - and shutting out men, the poor and rural Australians.

Reports to the advisory council reveal 2 million Australians, 75 per cent of them women - who are more likely than men to visit a doctor in any case - have used the program since it began in November 2006. By next year it is likely to have cost taxpayers $2 billion, sources say - almost four times the original budget estimate of $538 million. But last year's national healthcare agreement showed people from wealthier backgrounds were up to 30 per cent more likely to use the program, and a government review, released in March, found it was disadvantaging young people and those in rural areas, who were making higher co-payments. ''It's a mess,'' said Professor Mendoza, who called for the program to be overhauled into taxpayer-funded teams of psychologists and other professionals, such as mental health nurses and social workers. Former state Labor MP and council member Neil Cole, an associate professor at Monash medical school, is concerned the program is ''a Rolls-Royce we don't need'' and is so accessible it is treating not just the so-called ''worried well'', but people who ''are not even worried''. The Medicare figures show that as of April 30, the program had provided 12.8 million mental health services, including 1.9 million GP mental health plans, 2.6 million visits to clinical psychologists and 4.9 million visits to psychologists, social workers or occupational therapists.

A leaked report to the advisory council shows that of the patients accessing services, 77 per cent are depressed and 62 per cent suffer both depression and anxiety. But council member Ian Hickie, executive director of the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Research Institute, said: ''We know a lot of people with severe problems are missing out simply because they live in the wrong place.'' Even living in Melbourne is no guarantee that help will be available, as The Sunday Age's account today of a mentally ill eight-year-old girl shows. David Crosbie, another council member and chief executive of the Mental Health Council of Australia, said: ''If you have a child who's starting to lose touch with reality, where do you take them? There's really no options.'' The only expert on the council prepared to unequivocally defend the Better Access program was the executive director of the Australian Psychological Society, Lyn Littlefield, whose members are earning up to thousands of dollars a week providing advice and counselling.

But a surge in the number of counsellors, therapists and psychologists offering the rebate and bulk-billing has raised concerns among several council members about the quality of the service being provided. ''Someone can hang a shingle out the front of their place and provide these services under Medicare, but we have no idea of the standard of care,'' Professor Mendoza said. Critics also point out the program has never been properly evaluated - although a comprehensive review has begun - so its achievements remain unclear. The Howard government hoped the program would result in a decline of taxpayer-subsidised antidepressants, but since 2006 the number of prescriptions for these drugs has risen by 382,738 to more than 12 million last year. One in five Australians suffers a mental health problem each year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, while three-quarters of all mental illness first occurs in people under 25. Professor Mendoza said the system ignored early intervention in young people despite evidence of the benefits - less homelessness, crime, social isolation, alcohol and drug abuse, better chances at relationships and retaining employment. Mr Cole said: ''We have a ballooning of children and adolescents in need of mental health services. This must be addressed now or we will have massive problems in the future.''

Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry, founding board member of the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, known as headspace, and executive director of Melbourne's Orygen Youth Health, agreed. He said while the $80 million allocated to headspace in the May budget was welcome, overall mental health funding fell short. ''The system is absolutely on its knees,'' he said. ''We have a famine-like situation and the mental health system is getting the scraps from the table.'' Orygen, he said, was forced to turn away 1200 mentally ill young people each year, 300 of whom were at risk of suicide. Shortly before the 2007 federal election, Ms Roxon told a national mental health conference that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had put mental health ''high on his personal agenda of issues''. But on the Sunrise program on Friday, Mr Rudd admitted he was ''fully prepared to concede'' that ''a whole lot more work'' needed to be done.

Loading Yesterday, Ms Roxon, through a spokesman, thanked Professor Mendoza for his service. ''However, the minister rejects Mr Mendoza's assertion that the government has no commitment to mental health,'' spokesman Mark Ward said. He said the state-federal healthcare agreement in April would establish a foundation for further reforms to mental health.