A spokesperson for Rishi Sunak has said the government is “confident” it has provided enough funding to the NHS to cope with the winter crisis, despite calls from health service workers for ministers to do more to keep the service afloat.

In a statement, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “I think we are confident we are providing the NHS with the funding it needs as we did throughout the pandemic to deal with these issues.

“I think we have been upfront with the public long in advance of this winter that because of the pandemic and the pressures it has placed and the backlog of cases that this would be an extremely challenging winter and that is what we are seeing and we remain thankful to frontline NHS and care staff who are providing this level of care to the public in a challenging time.”

NHS crisis: everything you need to know about the current situation