THE family of a Worcester woman who committed suicide is due today to have the opportunity to put their concerns surrounding her death to an independent commission.

Karen Meadows' father, Doug Meadows, will attend a meeting with The Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), which is beginning its routine inspection of mental health services at Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust.

The family has been always believed that she should have been sectioned because of her previous attempts to kill herself.

But psychiatric teams told the family that Karen, who suffered from depression, was not a danger to herself.

However, just one day after being told this, in August 2002, Karen was found hanging by a dressing gown cord attached to a banister at her home in Melbourne Street.

"It is moving in the right direction," said Karen's father Doug Meadows. "So we are happy about that.

"At least we can now put our points across to them."

CHI aims to talk to people in Worcestershire so they can discuss their experiences of the mental health trust.

Today's meeting will take place in Redditch with further meetings planned for tomorrow and Thursday in Worcester and Kidderminster respectively.

The commission will look at the management, provisions and quality of key services provided by the trust and then identify best practice and where there is room for improvement, work with the trust to set objectives and bring about change.

"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," said CHI Chairman Dame Deirdre Hine.

"Sometimes that process will be a painful one, but it is vital if we are to provide a better service."