Thank you for covering the recent meeting between pain sufferers and Dr David Geddes, of North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT).

The PCT is refusing to continue funding for injections to help against lower-back pain, even when they have been used successfully for some time, without offering anything concrete in their place (“Treat us with respect”, The Press, February 15.

These injections enable sufferers to overcome excruciating pain, ensuring some respite, often allowing them to continue working and caring for their families.

I want to clarify a very important point. The PCT states its decision is based on guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) for lower-back pain.

But the NICE guidance specifically targets those with back pain from six weeks to 12 months.

The people who have been getting these injections in the York area have almost all been suffering for at least a year, many for much longer. There is nothing in the NICE guidelines to deny these people their injections.

The British Pain Society was concerned the NICE guidelines did not state clearly enough that they are not applicable to those who have been suffering lower-back pain for more than 12 months.

It was concerned the guidelines would therefore be applied to all back-pain patients. Unfortunately, the PCT seems to have fallen into exactly that trap.

These injections are a treatment of last resort. If they are taken away, the impact on sufferers and their families and carers is totally devastating.

I therefore appeal to the PCT to review its draconian stance on this problem.

Would it not be possible to arrive at a compromise, allowing those who have been receiving the injections successfully to continue to do so, while ensuring any new referrals go through the new Pain Management Programme, which, nobody disputes, must be the best way to start receiving help for back pain?

Diana Terry, Brandsby, York