Women who drink two glasses of wine a night should be sent for scans by their GPs to check for cirrhosis, new NHS guidance says.

The advice from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) says around 2 million people are drinking at levels which put them at risk of potentially fatal disease.

GPs are being told that men who drink three pints of beer a night, and women consuming two glasses of wine nightly are among those who should be sent for checks for scarring to the liver, also known as cirrhosis.

Britain is the worst country in the western world for heavy drinking among professional women, with those with a good education twice as likely to be problem drinkers, research shows.

Britain is the worst country in the western world for heavy drinking among professional women, with those with a good education twice as likely to be problem drinkers, research shows.

But last night Nice was accused of needlessly frightening those who enjoyed a drink, in a “colossal waste of NHS resources,” with critics saying such checks were too indiscriminate.

It follows a recent clampdowns on recommended safe limits for alcohol, amid warnings from the chief medical officer to “do as I do” and think about the risks of cancer before having a drink.