GOVERNMENT inspectors are offering you the chance to have your say on mental health care in Worcestershire.

As part of its inspection into the services provided by Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership Trust, the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) wants to meet local people to discuss their experiences.

The meetings will be held on Tuesday, September 30, Wednesday, October 1, and Thursday, October 2, in Redditch, Worcester and Kidderminster respectively.

The trust provides adult mental health, learning disability and substance abuse services across the county, although the review will focus on mental health services.

The inspection will take 17 weeks and is part of a programme that will involve a CHI team visiting every NHS trust, primary care group or trust in England and Wales.

The team hopes to identify where there is room for improvement.

The inspection team will include an NHS doctor, nurse, lay person, a clinical professional such as a therapist or a pharmacist, a mental health service user, an NHS manager and a CHI manager.

A report will then be published and made public.

"The experience of patients and service users lies at the heart of CHI's work," said CHI chairman Dame Deirdre Hine.

"We aim to improve standards of care by focusing on the experience of those using the NHS.

"We want the NHS to see itself as the patients see it and sometimes that process will be a painful one, but it is vital if we are to provide a better service."

To arrange a confidential appointment to meet a CHI member, send a comment or for more information, telephone 0845 601 3012 or email yourviews@chi.nhs.uk, quoting "Worcestershire Partnership".