Alcoholics to get liver transplants on the NHS for the first time but critics say those who bring ill-health on themselves shouldn't get help

Alcoholics suffering from severe liver disease are to be allowed to have transplants on the NHS for the first time.

The scheme will be controversial because there is a national shortage of suitable organs for transplant – and critics will say those who bring ill-health on themselves should not receive such help.

The NHS Blood and Transplant Service's decision, announced last night, will affect those with 'severe alcohol-associated hepatitis' (SAAH), who have until now been excluded from transplants because the prognosis was so poor.

Admitting some people may be unwilling to donate if they know their livers may go to such patients, NHSBT's James Neuberger told the Guardian: 'We transplant humans, not angels.' 

The pilot project comes amid concern over rising deaths from alcoholic liver diseases – at a time when deaths from other conditions are falling.

While alcohol consumption is on a downward trend across most of Europe, it has soared over the past 50 years in the UK.

Doctors say liver disease victims are getting younger by the year, but cases of the condition are rising most quickly among the over-60s. At present, people are usually only considered for transplant if they have a more than 50 per cent chance of survival after five years, with a good quality of life.

Alcoholics are required to show they will be able to give up drink for the rest of their lives.

However, about a fifth of liver transplants involve patients whose condition has been linked to their drinking, including the late footballer George Best.