A local fortnightly newspaper set up only three months ago in Dartmoor has seen its first front page exclusive become a national investigation that has reached the health secretary.

The Moorlander broke the story of NHS waste in Exeter last month, running pictures of piles of discarded crutches and walkers that it said had been deemed unfit for use despite many being brand new.

Editor and founder Stuart Clarke, a former Fleet street photographer who has covered conflicts abroad, said the story came from a tip-off that led him to take a photograph of the “sea of NHS waste”.