Over 108,000 patients have gone without a bed as winter brings more strife to hospitals

With weeks to run to peak flu season, hospitals are in the grip of a system-wide crisis as the nation’s emergency departments (ED) plunge deeper into chaos.

The state of hospital care is captured in figures showing that 108,364 patients have gone without beds so far this year — almost 10 times the total inpatient capacity of 10,955. The figure is higher than for the entire of 2018.