Mental health services in Britain are “patchy”, the Prime Minister Theresa May has told the BBC.

The comments come after Ms May agreed to help more than 100,000 teenagers a year to get mental health training to cope with the pressure of exams and build up their self-esteem.

New research revealed that mental health problems disproportionately affected young people, with over half of mental health problems starting by the age of 14 and 75 per cent by the age of 18.

The Prime Minister said 10,000 members of frontline staff will be trained in spotting issues early.

“A few weeks ago I was visiting a school in Bristol, where I was talking to young people”, she said.

“I saw some of the first sets of training that we’re doing for teachers and staff in schools so they can better identify when young people have mental health problems and to know what is the right support to give to those young people.”

The new scheme will be developed by experts and NCS graduates and is aimed at preparing young people for the challenges of adult life and work.

“Intervening early for young people is important. We’ve increased the number of mental health beds for young people and we’re putting record amounts of funding into mental health in the national health service.

“But of course, what we do need to ensure is that we are raising that awareness and seeing that support there.

“That’s why one of the things I’ve been doing is actually looking at the community mental health services for young people and reviewing that across the country because it is patchy.

“You do see different approaches being taken, so I don’t pretend that we’ve done everything we need to do but I think raising awareness is one of the key issues we all need to address.”