THERE are still so many questions. It is 18 months since Donald Campbell was found dead in the canal in Inverness, but his relatives still do not know how and why he died. He had been detained under section 18 of the Mental Health Act, but was no longer a hospital in-patient, having been transferred to a care home. His relatives still do not know whether his death could have been prevented or even whether it was suicide. They just hope that the fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into his case, which will be held next month, will provide some answers.

Many other families of the 600 people who commit suicide in Scotland every year feel angry and frustrated that their questions remain unanswered. Some, like Margaret, whose brother was recently found dead from hanging, think there should be an inquiry whenever there is no adequate explanation for what happened.

Very few suicides result in FAIs, which are mandatory only for accidents at work and deaths in custody. For the year April 2002 to March 2003, there were 14,346 sudden, unexplained or suspicious deaths reported to the fiscals and 58 FAIs. ''We have been to see the procurator-fiscal twice, but we still have questions we want answered 15 months after our brother's death. We want a fatal accident inquiry because there is a gap of two hours prior to his death, when we don't know what happened. Sometimes it feels as if the case has just been filed away and forgotten,'' says Margaret.

She is one of many people in the Highlands who have found there is a desperate lack of support for people bereaved by suicide, despite the fact that the male suicide rate in the Highlands has long been far higher than elsewhere.

According to NHS Highland, there have been 11 suicides from January to the end of April 2004 - exactly the same as in the first four months of 2003. In addition there have been eight undetermined deaths this year (which might have been suicides or accidents), compared with four in the same period last year. There have been two suicides in Orkney and two in the Western Isles between January and the end of April.

The Highlands and Islands have always had a higher proportion of people taking their own lives. Cameron Stark, public health consultant for NHS Highland, has made a particular study of suicide in rural areas which showed that between 1978 and 1998, the male suicide rate in the Highlands was 50 per 100,000 compared with 30 per 100,000 in the rest of the country.

He says there are a number of factors, including the fact that firearms and hanging, which are more common means of suicide in the Highlands than elsewhere, have a higher success rate.

The figures are alarming. Neil Gilles set up a support group in Dingwall for bereaved families after his son was killed in a road accident in 1999, but he has been inundated by families affected by suicide. According to the group, there were eight suicides in Inverness itself last month.

The word stigma is never far away from the word suicide, especially in the Highlands. One Inverness woman whose husband committed suicide in March says she was told by a volunteer with a bereavement organisation that it would take 18 months before she could hold her head up in the community. She also had to pursue the police for information. ''I had to make herself very unpopular before I could get any answers. They are not following things up properly. The procurator-fiscal is supposed to get back to the families between two and three weeks later. It is now 10 weeks and I still haven't heard.''

After meeting six bereaved families last month, Mary Scanlon, Conservative MSP for the Highlands, says: ''There needs to be joined-up working and more sharing of information among professionals.''

She is now organising a multi-agency conference with the police, the NHS, social work, members of the drug and alcohol teams, the procurator-fiscal and the local prison to see what can be done to improve joint working and better communication to families. Her aim is more training for professionals in dealing with suicide. The consensus is that it's not before time.

Highlands and Islands Support Group for Grieving Families: 01349 867676.

After A Suicide, a support booklet for families, from SAMH: 0141 568 7000 or www.samh.org.uk