Church leaders from Britain's largest umbrella groups have condemned the findings of a leaked report into the treatment of ethnic minorities in mental healthcare.

Black Mental Health UK said that "officials have been working hard to bury the bad news" of the Count Me In Census 2006 report which exposed the debilitating impact discrimination is having on black patients.

"The report which should have been made public in December last year supports the view of experts who have warned that the proposals within the 2006 Mental Health Bill will exacerbate the racism within mental health services," BMH UK has said.

Findings in the report have exposed that the £16milion Health Minister Rosie Winterton committed to the Delivering Race Equality programme set up to address discrimination in mental health services had "absolutely no impact in improving the ethnic inequalities in inpatient care", explains BMH UK.