A SEVERELY depressed man who attempted to take his life twice in 24 hours has demanded to know why health workers failed him.

Father of two Tom Barrett, 43, wants to know why he was released from a psychiatric ward just hours after trying to take his own life with a samurai sword last Tuesday.

The very next day he again called police saying that he was going to kill himself, this time with a kitchen knife.

He was talked out of it by a 999 operator and taken from his Landsdowne Avenue home in Portchester to hospital.

Despite calls from a leading mental health charity - the Zito Trust - and Fareham MP Mark Hoban, health bosses at Portsmouth Primary Care Trust (PCT) refused to launch an inquiry.

Now Mr Barrett, who has been released from hospital, has echoed their calls.

He said: "They should have offered me more support and not let me go so quickly after it happened the first time. They weren't much help really, they just interviewed me and let me go. If they had offered me more support it wouldn't have happened again."

Mr Barrett became upset after breaking up with his girlfriend of 12 years. He said he stopped taking prescribed tablets and started drinking alcohol, which only made his depression worse.

He added: "My mental health is much better now. I have stopped drinking and they are trying to get a support team to help me."

A statement from Portsmouth PCT read: "It would be inappropriate, because of patient confidentiality, for Portsmouth Primary Care Trust to discuss this case further.

"However, we are sorry to hear that the client has concerns about his treatment and we would ask that he please contact his care team at Acorn Lodge where we would be more than happy to discuss his concerns with him."