From time to time (well, about every half an hour) we sit around the PO office throwing around ideas about how our site needs to develop now. What's the next leap forwards?

One idea that comes up a lot goes something like: "Wouldn't it be great if people could use the site to find other people who face the same challenges/have the same condition/live nearby/use the same hospital?"

And it is a great idea. And I suppose, because of the enormous myFace hype, everyone thinks everything has to be a social network.

But the last time we had this conversation, I realised something: that doesn't really excite me. I can see how helpful it can be to find other "people like me" and support one another. But somehow, I don't want to build one myself.

What did excite me was when we went to the HQ of Which? in London a few months ago. In their reception they have a big slogan on the wall that says something like "The aim of Which? is to make consumers as powerful as the organisations they have to deal with".

Now that does excite me. For me, the aim of Patient Opinion is to help the voices of patients and service users become as powerful as those of NHS organisations. After all, it is our NHS, and it means a lot to us.