Colin and Di Smith have worked tirelessly putting pressure on the authorities to sort out the mess that is the Pain Clinic.

However, I do not share their ‘cautious optimism’ (Hopes for an end to living with pain’, Echo, May 14).

At the NHS Dorset Network meeting on the February 17 it was announced that consideration was being given to the appointment of a third consultant.

This was confirmed at the Network meeting on the March 9.

In the Echo front page article on March 23 you reported: ‘The NHS has agreed to source an additional consultant anaesthetist at the pain clinic to clear the backlog’ An NHS Foundation Trust governor then reported that he had been advised that within the PCT there had never been any discussion about the appointment of a third consultant.

Are we really supposed to believe this? It is inconceivable that announcements would be made at two Network meetings about the appointment of a third consultant unless there had been some discussion at PCT level.

We were then told that extra clinics would be held throughout April to help clear the backlog (I hate to think how many hours the clinicians are working).

My wife has constant, debilitating back pain and as she had not received an appointment for further injections by the end of April she phoned the hospital at the beginning of May.

She was told that she was not near the top of the waiting list, as patients who were due to receive injections in August 2010 had still not been treated. So much for clearing the backlog!

This is not good enough and I have a message for Paul Sly the chief executive of The Primary Care Trust.

You are the man at the top, get a grip, sort out this mess and show us that you deserve your £130,000 a year pay package.

Peter Watson, Manor Road, Dorchester