Shoulder joint
One cadaveric study found injections reached the shoulder joint in 92.5% of ultrasound-guided attempts against 72.5% by hand.
Ultrasound guided injection cost
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One fee covers your examination, your scan, the injection and a written report, all in a single visit with Rob Mast. Prices start at £250 and do not change with the joint.
Ask About Your InjectionAsking a question costs nothing and does not commit you to treatment.
Treatment cost
One Visit, One Clear Price
An ultrasound guided injection at Sonoscope costs from £250. We are based in Ware, Hertfordshire. The price covers your clinical examination, a diagnostic ultrasound scan, the injection itself and a written report, all in one visit. Rob Mast, an Advanced Practice Physiotherapist and musculoskeletal sonographer, carries out your care personally. No GP referral is needed.
- Clinical examination with Rob Mast
- Diagnostic ultrasound scan
- Ultrasound guided injection
- Written report to keep
All-inclusive from
£250
Per session. No hidden fees.
If your scan shows the injection is not suitable, you are only charged for the examination, scan and report.
Treatment Fees
Our Treatment Prices
Every injection fee includes the clinical examination, diagnostic ultrasound scan, injection and written clinical report.
- Clinical examination
- Ultrasound scan
- Injection
- Written report
| Treatment | Fee |
|---|---|
| Diagnostic ultrasound scan | £150 |
| Steroid injection How a corticosteroid injection works | £250 |
| Hydrodistension Easing a stiff shoulder capsule | £300 |
| Ostenil Plus Hyaluronic acid options including Durolane | £300 |
| Durolane hyaluronic acid injection | £350 |
| Barbotage Breaking down calcium deposits in the shoulder | £350 |
| Arthrosamid Arthrosamid for knee osteoarthritis | £2,300 |
What the fee actually covers
The headline price is not always the whole price
You book an injection at £350, arrive, and find the consultation was a separate £120. Then the scan appears as another line.
Pricing private care this way is common across the UK, and it is why comparing two clinics on the headline figure alone can mislead you.
£250
At Sonoscope, the fee is the fee. A steroid injection includes all four parts below.
-
Examination
A clinical examination with Rob
-
Ultrasound
A diagnostic ultrasound scan
-
Treatment
The injection, placed under live imaging
-
Report
A written clinical report naming the drugs used, the procedure performed and the advice that follows
Nothing is added afterwards.
There is no separate charge for the scan and no separate charge for the report.
The price is the same whichever joint it is
Your hip does not cost more than your thumb
Some clinics price by joint size, and some charge differently for each procedure. Sonoscope does neither.
A steroid injection into a shoulder, a hip, a knee, a hand or a foot is £250, and it stays £250 whether the target is straightforward to reach or awkward.
There is a plain reason for that. Work in the room is the same work every time: examine, scan, inject under live imaging, write the report. A hip takes more care to reach than a thumb, and that care is already what you were paying for.
One clinical fee
The joint changes. The price does not.
£250
- Shoulder
- £250
- Hip
- £250
- Knee
- £250
- Hand
- £250
- Foot
- £250
- Examine
- Scan
- Inject
- Report
What you get for the guidance
Guidance is worth paying for, just not everywhere
Placing a needle under live imaging is more accurate than placing it by feel, and at some targets the gap is wide.
Five-joint trial
Across 184 patients injected at the shoulder, elbow, wrist, knee or ankle, research on injection accuracy put accuracy at 83% with guidance and 66% without.
Where the gap narrows
Guidance does not add the same value at every target
Now the part that usually gets left out. At certain targets, guidance makes little measurable difference. Landmark-guided injections for carpal tunnel syndrome and de Quervain's tenosynovitis have reached 95% to 100% accuracy in study conditions, and a randomised trial found no clinical benefit from guidance for trigger finger.
There is still a definite benefit in terms of safety. Ultrasound-guided injections can actively avoid injecting into neurovascular structures, which really helps to avoid any post injection complications.
Why Rob still scans
The greater value is often the diagnosis
Rob scans every patient anyway, and the needle is not the reason. Diagnosis is. Seeing the structure before treating it is what changes the decision, and at the joints where guidance alone is a close call, that is where the value sits.
If an injection is not the right step
Sometimes the honest answer is no
An injection is given when clinically appropriate, after examination and scan.
Should the scan show the problem is something an injection will not help, Rob will say so, and will not inject.
You still pay the fee in that situation. What you take away is a completed examination, a diagnostic scan, a written report and a clear answer about what is actually wrong, which is often the thing people wanted most without quite realising it.
No
No injection is given when the examination and scan show it is not the right treatment.
What you still leave with
-
A completed clinical examination
-
A diagnostic ultrasound scan
-
A written clinical report
-
A clear answer about what is actually wrong
The fee covers the assessment and diagnosis, even when the safest clinical decision is not to inject.
How these fees compare across the UK
Compare on what is included, not on the number
Private ultrasound-guided injections across the UK run from about £200 to £1,000, and one national provider charges £680 at seven of its hospital sites. Barbotage sits between £350 and £550. A standalone diagnostic scan costs between £100 and £250 at most private clinics.
Service
Typical figure
What to check
Ultrasound-guided injection
£200 to £1,000
Consultation, scan, medication and report may be priced separately.
National hospital provider
£680
The published fee applies at seven hospital locations.
Ultrasound-guided barbotage
£350 to £550
Check whether consultation, scan, injection and report are included.
Standalone diagnostic scan
£100 to £250
This may be an additional charge before an injection appointment.
A low headline figure can become a much higher final bill
Those figures only become useful once you know what sits behind each one. A £200 injection with a £120 consultation and a £150 scan added on top is not a £200 injection. For a wider picture of what steroid injections cost across the UK, we have written about it separately.
Sonoscope pricing
One published figure per treatment
The published figure is the total, rather than the first line of a larger bill.
Rob Mast
Advanced Practice Physiotherapist and musculoskeletal sonographer
Who performs the injection
One person does all of it, every time
Rob Mast performs every injection at Sonoscope personally.
Clinical background
He is an Advanced Practice Physiotherapist and musculoskeletal sonographer, registered with the HCPC under PH47036, holding a CASE-accredited postgraduate certificate in musculoskeletal diagnostic ultrasound.
Alongside the clinic he works as an interventional MSK sonographer in an NHS radiology department, and teaches on the ultrasound-guided injection programme at Brunel University.
Independent prescriber
Rob is also an independent prescriber. Being able to prescribe the injectable medicine himself removes an appointment from your pathway, because there is no need to go back to a GP or specialist for a prescription first.
-
Registration
HCPC PH47036
-
Ultrasound
CASE-accredited postgraduate certificate
-
Clinical role
Interventional MSK sonographer in NHS radiology
-
Teaching
Ultrasound-guided injection programme at Brunel University
Ask Rob about your symptoms before you book
Ask a question first if you would rather. There is no obligation to book.
Before you book
The questions worth asking any clinic
How much does barbotage cost?
Barbotage at Sonoscope costs £350, covering the examination, scan, procedure and report. You may see the same procedure called lavage or needle aspiration, which are different names for one thing. Across the UK it runs from roughly £350 to £550. Ultrasound matters here more than at most sites, because it shows whether a calcium deposit is soft and actively breaking down, which is when barbotage works best, or hard and quiet. Deposits larger than half a centimetre in that soft phase tend to respond best.
Do I need a GP referral?
No. You can book directly with Sonoscope without a referral from a GP or a specialist. Referrals from physiotherapists and GPs are welcome and many patients arrive that way, but nothing is held up if you do not have one.
How much does a scan cost on its own?
A diagnostic ultrasound scan without an injection is £150, including a written clinical report. Most private clinics charge between £100 and £250 for the same thing.
How much is an injection for my shoulder or my hip?
Exactly the same as any other joint. A steroid injection is £250 whether the target is a shoulder, a hip, a knee, a hand or a foot. Hyaluronic acid and barbotage are priced by the treatment used rather than by the body part.
Will I need more than one injection?
Sometimes, and it depends on the condition. Steroid injections are usually spaced at least six weeks apart, and standard practice is no more than three into the same area in a year. With calcific tendinopathy, a second barbotage is occasionally needed around six to eight weeks after the first. Rob will tell you at your appointment whether a repeat is likely in your case, and we have written separately about spacing between steroid injections.
Is the scan optional?
No, and that is deliberate. Scanning is what decides whether an injection is the right treatment and precisely where it should go. It is built into the fee rather than sold as an extra.
What is not offered at Sonoscope?
Sonoscope does not carry out spinal injections, nerve blocks, or treatment for sciatica and spinal nerve root compression. Those procedures are done in hospital under X-ray guidance. Injections are not given to anyone aged 16 or under.
Before you decide
Price is the smaller half of the question
Most people arrive on this page to compare a number. That number matters. What decides whether the money was well spent, though, is who examined you, whether anyone looked inside the joint before treating it, and whether you left knowing what is actually wrong.
What matters more
- Who examined you
- Scan before treatment
- A clear diagnosis
- Honest clinical advice
Ask about your symptoms before you commit to treatment.
Enquiries are free and carry no obligation to book.
Ask About Your Injection
Sonoscope at The Dolphin Medical and Therapy Rooms, 6-7 East Street, Ware, SG12 9HJ.
07999 923844