Patients with liver disease could miss out on NHS funding, experts have warned.

They say new funding arrangements, which will be in place from April, could mean the condition receives little or no cash.

Liver experts, meeting in London, urged ministers to ensure patients did not miss out.

A million people in the UK have a liver disease, such as cirrhosis and hepatitis.

As we are not an NHS priority we fear that liver disease will be missed out and left out in the cold Dr Mark Thursz, British Association for the Study of the Liver

Over 4,000 people died of cirrhosis in 1999, two thirds of whom were under 65.

The disease, often caused by excess alcohol consumption and chronic hepatitis infection, especially hepatitis C, kills more men than Parkinson's disease and more women than cervical cancer

Having the resources to treat liver diseases early is crucial, experts say.

NHS focus

Specialists fear liver patients will miss out because of emphasis on other diseases.

The government has introduced national care standards for people with conditions including heart disease and cancer, but there is not yet a National Service Framework for liver diseases.

In addition, the system for funding specialist care has shifted from specialist committees at regional level to locally run primary care trusts (PCTs).

Nigel Hughes, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said: "The whole way the NHS is currently focussed means that liver disease is very low on the PCTs' agenda.

"Even though the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended guidelines for the drugs to treat hepatitis C, it is still of concern that in a recent survey, 75% of hepatologists, infectious disease consultants and gastroentrologists have major concerns about funding.

"Even where there is funding for the drugs, the infrastructure and service delivery costs cannot be met."

He said funding pressures would increase this year when revised NICE guidance on liver care, including newer and more effective treatments, would exacerbate the problem.

"This is just the tip of the liver disease funding iceberg," he said.

'Dependent'

Dr Mark Thursz, a consultant liver specialist at St Mary's Hospital, London, and secretary of the British Association for the Study of the Liver, told BBC News Online: "National Service Frameworks define services for cancer and heart disease, but there isn't one for liver diseases.

"Our patients are dependent on the specialist commissioning process."

But he added: "As we are not an NHS priority we fear that liver disease will be missed out and left out in the cold."