Overcrowding in NSW hospitals ‘worst’ some doctors have seen as winter illnesses clog emergency departments

NSW health minister Ryan Park says ‘we continue to work on relieving pressure on our busy emergency departments by creating more alternative pathways to care outside the hospital’. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

The New South Wales health minister has encouraged people to call the health hotline instead of going to emergency departments as a spike in winter illnesses has doctors saying overcrowding is the “worst they have ever seen”.

In a statement on Thursday, Ryan Park said there had been more than 45,000 presentations to EDs over the past five days.