General Election 2015: Everything you need to know about the NHS

Find out all you need to know in under three minutes with The Independent’s 'Inside Stories' series

The Independent's "Inside Stories" series offers our readers all they need to know about where the main political parties stand on the key issues in the 2015 General Election.

With the polls too close to call and with talk of a range of possible outcomes, coalitions and backroom deals, it is more important than ever to be well-informed before you place your vote on May 7.

Here, Whitehall Editor Oliver Wright explains the key facts around the emotive topic of the NHS - in under three minutes.

Labour have put the NHS at the heart of their campaign to win power from the Tories in May, with a £2.5 billion fund set to pay for 20,000 more nurses, 8,000 more GPs and 3,000 more midwives.

The Conservatives are promising to again ring fence the NHS budget so it is not cut to pay off the deficit, with an increase to general healthcare funding by £2 billion in 2016.

The Liberal Democrats are the only party to pledge to increase NHS funding beyond 2016, so that by 2020 the NHS budget will be £8 billion higher in real terms than it is today.

To find out more about where the parties stand on the economy, watch the video.