PM Rishi Sunak's first major TV interview of the year is with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg Follow live
The NHS is in the middle of its worst winter in a generation, with senior doctors warning that hospitals are facing intolerable pressures that are costing lives.The health service was already under pressure - the result of long-standing problems - but Covid, flu and now strike action by staff have all added to the sense of crisis this winter.
To help the health service cope with the demands of an ageing population as well as pay for advances in medicine, the NHS budget has traditionally risen by an average of 4% above inflation each year.Of course, that is when a Conservative-led government came into power, although it is worth bearing in mind Labour were also signed up to this squeeze following the 2008 financial crash.
Labour - despite previous big increases in funding - were promising less for the health service than the Tories in the 2010 election, while in 2015 there was little between the two parties. The government points to extra funding for the NHS during this parliament and topped up further in theBed numbers have fallen, while staffing shortages have increased.
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