Clinics and wards used by the Cleft Lip and Palate Service

There are two wards for children having cleft lip and palate treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Children under the care of the Cleft lip and palate team are admitted to Magpie for pre-operative care, although some pre-operative appointments are now offered as telephone reviews.

Following surgery, they are cared for in Panther ward. This is usually for one or two nights.

Panther is located on Level 6 of the Premier Inn Clinical Building. Ten of the ward beds are for cleft patients.

The service run a special clinic for velocardiofacial syndrome (also known as 22q11 deletion and Di George syndrome).

We also hold clinics at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, and Southend Hospital.

Appointment types include multidisciplinary (MDT) appointments, clinical review, audit appointments and single speciality appointments. Most appointments will be in person, however some may happen virtually if clinically appropriate.

Below is the plan for the majority of children under the care of the Cleft lip and palate team. It identifies the appointments, tests, assessments and operations that are likely to be arranged for your child. Treatment is planned on an individual basis taking into account the type of cleft, other illnesses and conditions your child may have.

As each child is different, we may need to adjust this plan from time to time. Children with clefts of the lip only will need to be seen less frequently.

• Birth - hospital visit to family by one of the clinical nurse specialists.
• Six to eight weeks - outpatient MDT clinic - to meet the team to discuss the operation and an appointment with the paediatrician where appropriate.
• Three to six months - admission to hospital for lip repair.
• Nine to 12 months - admission to hospital for palate repair.
• 12 months - outpatient MDT clinic and Surgeon only clinic - Post op review.
• Two years - speech and language therapy review and assessment.
• Three and a half to four years - outpatient MDT clinic - Clinical review and speech assessment.
• Five years - outpatient clinic - Clinical review (audit).
• Seven and a half years -assessment for alveolar bone graft - For those patients whose cleft involves the alveolus.
• 10 years -outpatient clinic - Clinical review (audit and MDT).
• 10 - 12.5 years - orthodontic review and follow up as appropriate.
• 15 years - outpatient MDT clinic - Clinical review.
• 20 years - outpatient clinic - Clinical review (audit and MDT).

These are just the planned appointments and we are happy to see you at any time if you have concerns or worries. If individual members of the team need to see your child more regularly, we will arrange these appointments for you. If your child is likely to need several assessments at the same age, we will do our best to arrange them for the same day.