Users can now donate to the British Heart Foundation through the voice-activated virtual assistant

A health charity has scored a UK first – by becoming the first to allow donations through Amazon Alexa.

Users can now donate to the British Heart Foundation (BHF) through the voice-activated virtual assistant.

They can also organise the collection of furniture or electrical goods.

Users will be able to do this by saying: "Alexa, ask British Heart Foundation to collect my furniture", or "Alexa, open British Heart Foundation and donate money".

Donations will be answered by a voice recording thanking the donor.

BHF is the first in the UK to benefit from the service – but charities in the USA have been receiving cash this way since April.

Simon Gillespie, chief executive of the BHF, said: "More people than ever own a digital assistant like the Amazon Echo and it’s really exciting for our supporters to be able to use their devices to support life-saving heart research.

"We’re constantly adapting as an organisation to be where our supporters are and to give people choice to make donating as easy as possible. We’re excited to add the Amazon Alexa to a long list of ways that people can help fund our life-saving research."

Doug Gurr, UK country manager for Amazon and chair of the BHF, said: "We hope connecting millions of Alexa customers to the BHF will make a real and positive difference to the seven million people living with cardiovascular disease in the UK today."