Health service facing winter 'disaster' unless every bed used

The health service faces 'real disaster' unless every hospital bed is used this winter, a consultant has warned. 

The health service is "staring down the barrel of a real disaster" unless every hospital bed is used this winter, a leading emergency medicine consultant has warned. 

As fears grow about hospital overcrowding in the coming weeks, startling new French research shows that a night on a trolley in an emergency department can increase the risk of dying “by almost 40%” for patients.