“WE are in pain every day and something needs to be done.”

This is the plea from a group of chronic pain sufferers who say the long waiting lists for pain relief at Dorset County Hospital are destroying their lives. After hearing the plight of the patients, some of whom are a year overdue on their pain relief, MPs have intervened and are meeting with hospital and NHS Dorset chiefs this week.

Paul Wickham, 47, of Abbotsbury, was injured in a motorbike accident in 2002 and suffered injuries so severe he spent a month in intensive care.

He ripped off his shoulder blade in the accident and now every time he moves he says the pain is like someone stabbing him in the shoulder.

He has been told by consultants that he needs monthly pain relieving injections but is currently only receiving these every four months.

Mr Wickham, a fish wholesaler, says he needs the injections to be able to carry on working. He said: “I am supposed to see a pain specialist monthly but the waiting list is so long.

“My gripe is that I need these injections to carry on with my life and work, but if I don’t get it I will have to stop working – do they want us to go on the dole?

“It just feels like as pain suffers we are left at the bottom of the pile.”

Last week the Echo revealed the plight of Diana Smith and her husband Colin who said their lives will be ‘unbearable’ unless they get their pain injections soon.

Mrs Smith has been waiting eight months for vital pain relieving injections that she is supposed to have every four months.

She said she does not know where to turn now and is already having to take painkillers 24 hours a day.

West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin said he has been talking to the hospital to try and find a solution to the problems for more than a year and urged pain clinic sufferers to get in touch so he can speak on their behalf.

He said: “There is a really serious problem and at the end of the day it comes down to them not having enough medics. “At one point we thought it had improved and been sorted out, but then the complaints started again.”

South Dorset MP Jim Knight has also stepped in to try to help and has met with a NHS Dorset chief.

A spokesperson for Dorset County Hospital said: “Over recent months there has been an increase in the number of patients requiring repeat pain relief injections, which has led to a longer waiting list than we would wish.

“We are working closely with NHS Dorset to look at new ways to provide this service and set up additional pain services in the community.

“This could take the next three to four months to have any impact on the waiting times but we are working towards a solution as quickly as we can.”

A spokesman for NHS Dorset said they were working with Dorset County Hospital to improve capacity and reduce waiting times for pain services.