Hospitalised, a number need help to get out of bed (4,2)
I believe the answer is:
laid up
'hospitalised' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a number need help to get out of bed' is the wordplay.
'a number need help' becomes 'laid' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to get' says to put letters next to each other.
'out of bed' becomes 'up' ('up' can be a synonym of 'out of bed').
'laid'+'up'='LAID UP'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for laid up that I've seen before include "Confined to bed by illness" , "Stayed off-green" , "Stored, preserved" , "Bedridden" , "Saved" .)