ON Monday, The Herald launched a campaign calling for a review of the capacity in Scotland's hospitals.

Are there enough staff? Are there enough beds? They are critical questions for an institution charged with caring for a population that is getting older and frailer. Scots are proud and protective of the NHS – and doctors, nurses and other staff are working harder and harder to make the system work – but a review is needed to ensure the right people are in the right place at the right time to provide safe and dignified care.

The need for such a review has only become clearer over the last few days as The Herald's campaign – NHS: Time for Action – has uncovered the true nature of the crisis. One consultant told us that the situation is now so bad that hospitals in Scotland are narrowly avoiding a crisis situation most days. Capacity, said Dr Alistair Douglas, is sailing dangerously close to the wind almost every day of the week.

We also revealed the kind of impact bed shortages are having on patients. Last winter, for example, hundreds of patients were forced to wait more than 12 hours for a hospital bed despite ministers being warned that 21 out of 24 accident and emergency departments in Scotland were regularly unsafe. And on Tuesday, we told how most posts for senior trainee emergency doctors in Scotland have been left unfilled this summer – a fact which raises fears of a recruitment crisis and further serious consequences for patients.

Later in the week, the scale of the shortage of beds became clearer. In some cases, patients have been cared for in cupboards, offices and dining rooms. The space shortages have also led to thousands of sick patients being admitted to the wrong department; this can be dangerous because patients will receive their immediate care from staff who may not be trained in their condition.

The nature and scale of these problems has been confirmed by the emails and calls to The Herald since the launch of the campaign. Consultants have lent their support to calls for a review, but patients too have been in touch to reveal their experiences of the NHS. Many are positive, of course, but patients have also seen for themselves how stretched many hospital departments are. In some cases, they have also been left waiting long periods to be seen by staff.

In a letter in today's Herald, Dr Nikki Thompson, chairman-elect of BMA's Scottish Consultants Committee, has also given her support to The Herald's campaign. The system, she says, is under huge strain and the intensity of her own workload is unsustainable. "Nursing and other health profession representatives also tell a similar story," she writes. Dr Thompson says the NHS needs flexibility to cope with urgent cases and she hopes Scottish politicians will focus on fixing the service rather than stretching it until it snaps.

Taken together, these accounts of the NHS amount to compelling evidence for the central aim of The Herald's campaign: a review of hospital capacity. The system is currently stretched and at any point an outbreak of disease could stretch it beyond its capacity to cope. A review would uncover the details of this problem and identify where improvements need to be made. It could also establish how the provision of care, in hospitals, in the community and in care homes, needs to expand to look after the ageing population. In the meantime, the campaign, NHS: Time for Action, goes on.