Heart transplants are likely to become obsolete within 10 years, because they help so few people, a leading heart surgeon has said.

On the 50th anniversary of the first human heart transplant, carried out by South African cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard, Professor Stephen Westaby said it was time to switch to artificial pumps and stem cell therapy, which could help thousands more people in Britain each year.

Currently around 15,000 people under 65 each year in Britain could benefit from a heart transplant, but there are only around 150 organs available annually.

New figures released today from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) also show that the number of patients waiting for a heart transplant has risen by 162 per cent in a decade, because of the growing population and improvements in medicine.

Prof Stephen Westaby, of the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford: “I am a great supporter of cardiac transplantation. Some patients live for 20 years with excellent quality of life, but we can only treat one per cent of people.

“How does a society value a treatment that needs another young person to die first and is applicable to less than one per cent of those who might benefit?