CLKD - I live on a huge housing estate with nowhere near enough GPs, so there's always a wait. You can 'try' for an 'emergency' appointment on the day but you have to ring at 9am.....and keep ringing until you get through (not always practical when you're ill).
Honeybun - Trying not to get my hopes up. I had a successful steroid jab 20 years ago when I broke my tailbone
but last year when my pain consultant injected my SI joint there was no improvement in my back pain (although I'd already told him it wasn't my SI joint that was the issue but he wouldn't listen).
Over the years I've been through most NHS painkillers, the most recent was codeine (which I stopped after nasty side-effects). The ONLY thing that's ever helped my neck/back pain was when I've had morphine for various operations, but they obviously won't let me have that on a daily basis.
Just have to see what my GP says on 11th....