This bit of the site is an extension of my Private Eye column, Medicine Balls, which alas only gives me 800 words a fortnight to highlight all those vested interests and abuses of power in the NHS. My in-tray is forever full and some stories I never get round to covering in sufficient depth, or at all. By putting them in the public domain here, I hope they’ll gather their own momentum.

Health stories are often difficult to get to the bottom of, and complex to understand, but generally benefit from having a light shone on them.  Please feel free to post here, particularly any Freedom of Information responses (enlightening or otherwise) you’ve managed to drag out of the system, and responses to posts you’d like to challenge or clarify. The aim is to debate.  I’d rather you added your name, but understand that whistleblowers can still be vilified in the NHS. However, please don’t use anonymity as a mask for something clearly libellous.  The bottom line is simple. If it’s true, it isn’t libel. And who knows, we might gather enough truth for another book!

PS The title FOI Balls was suggested by tenacious patient advocate Daphne Havercroft who already has enough FOI responses to fill two books.