A city's primary hospital has almost 54,000 people on its waiting list.
The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (ICB) and University Hospital Southampton (UHS) reported that the average waiting period was 11 weeks.
One explanation given was the "significant pressure over the winter period" and the need to "act swiftly" for patients with higher priorities.
Nearly every bed in the hospital's six locations was occupied at one point.
In spite of 6 percent more appointments and treatment, the report given to Southampton City Council states that referrals are 4 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels and that UHS waiting lists have risen "proportionately more" than those at other hospitals.
Since UHS provides more treatments than other hospitals, it accepts patients from outside the region.
The council met with Joe Teape, chief operating officer at UHS, and Jane Hayward, director of networks at the ICB, to discuss ways to make things better.
The entire system was "creaking," according to Ms. Hayward.
Patients are regularly cancelled because there are hospitalized patients who don't fit the criteria for community residency and aren't residents, according to her.
"Rebalancing that would undoubtedly aid in treating those chosen patients.
It appears that everything is broken, according to Prof. Barrie Margetts, head of the council's health panel.
"The citizens of the city are our responsibility, and regardless of how these various parts appear, what we observe is that Southampton's residents are really struggling.
The ICB was not "addressing the real deep challenges," he claimed.
Plans for improvement have been announced, and they call for collaborating with partners more, recommending treatments with less variation, and "transforming" outpatient services.
According to Mr. Heape, "We still have really good outcomes [for] the patients who ultimately enter our care, and we do try and prioritise all of our waiting list on clinical priorities for all referrals.
.
