University Hospital Southampton waiting list reaches 54,000

The average waiting time at University Hospital Southampton's (UHS) was 11 weeks

Waiting lists at a city's main hospital have reached almost 54,000.

A report by University Hospital Southampton (UHS) and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (ICB) stated the average waiting time was 11 weeks.

It said a reason was the "significant pressure over the winter period" and a need to "act swiftly" for higher-priority patients.

At one point almost all hospital beds across its six locations were full.

According to the report provided to Southampton City Council, referrals are 4% higher than pre-pandemic levels, and despite 6% more appointments and more treatment, UHS waiting lists have grown "proportionately more" than other hospitals.

UHS offers more treatments than other hospitals and, therefore, takes on patients from outside the area.

Jane Hayward, director of networks at the ICB, and Joe Teape, chief operating officer at UHS, met the council to discuss how to improve the situation.

UHS waiting lists have grown "proportionately more" than other hospitals

Ms Hayward said the whole system was "creaking".

"Patients are cancelled on a daily basis because there are patients in hospital who do not meet that criteria to reside and they're not in the community," she said.

"If we rebalance that it would certainly help those elected patients be treated."

Prof Barrie Margetts, chair of the council's health panel, said: "It looks like everything is broken.

"Our responsibility is the people of the city and whatever these different bits look like, what we see is for the people in Southampton, they're really struggling."

He said the ICB was not "addressing the real deep challenges".

Improvement plans have been announced, including working more collaboratively with partners, reducing variation when recommending treatments, and "transforming" outpatient services.

Mr Heape said: "We still have really good outcomes [for] the patients that eventually get into our care, and we do try and prioritise all of our waiting list on clinical priorities for all referrals."

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [e-mail]