https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/wards-and-departments/departments/clinical-specialties/cleft-lip-and-palate-information-parents-and-visitors/refer-patient-cleft-lip-and-palate-service/
Refer a patient to the Cleft Lip and Palate Service
Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) hosts the North Thames Cleft Lip and Palate Service jointly with Broomfield Hospital in Essex. The service is the largest in the UK and the team works across both sites providing treatment to an average of 150 to 170 new babies per year born with a cleft lip and/or palate.
How to refer a patient
Outpatient appointments
As a tertiary service, all children must be referred via local hospital consultants, community paediatricians or, in some circumstances, via a GP. The Cleft, Lip & Palate Service accepts antenatal referrals, and referrals from secondary hospitals. Following birth, one of our clinical nurse specialists will pay a maternity hospital visit to the baby within 24 hours followed by regular phone contact.
All referrals need to have the referring consultant and address, addresses and contact numbers for the baby’s parents and GP details.
Antenatal referrals
Contact Clinical Nurse Specialists by telephone and email as soon as possible after diagnosis. A nurse will then make contact with the family to arrange an appointment.
GOSH (London)
Tel: 020 7813 8439 (voicemail available)
Email: gos-tr.northamescleftnursing@nhs.net
St Andrew's (Essex)
Tel: 0300 44 30240 / 0300 44 31190 / 0300 44 31217
New baby referrals
Contact Clinical Nurse Specialists immediately by telephone.
GOSH: 020 7813 8439
St Andrew's (Essex): 0300 44 30240 / 0300 44 31190 / 0300 44 31217
Inter Hospital Transfer
Please contact the Cleft Lip and Palate department directly on telephone number 020 7813 8439.
If the transfer is an emergency (patients that need life or limb saving treatment at GOSH within a few hours), or urgent (patients that need transfer to GOSH but not in the emergency category).
How to get advice
GOSH: Cleft Medical PA
Telephone: 020 7829 7922
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
Great Ormond Street
London
WC1N 3JH
Broomfield Site: Cleft Coordinator
Telephone: 0300 443 4934
St Andrews Centre
Broomfield Hospital
Chelmsford
Essex
CM1 7ET
Information for Speech and Language Therapists
In addition to our cohort of babies born with a cleft lip and/or palate, we also accept referrals for children and young people who have hypernasal speech or where there are other concerns about how the palate is working for speech, and who require further in-depth specialist assessment.
If you have a child on your SLT caseload who you suspect may have a submucous cleft palate or non-cleft velopharyngeal dysfunction, a referral may be made to this service. In order for the referral to be accepted, a covering letter from the child's GP will also be required. The cleft SLT team are happy to give advice over the phone as to whether a referral is appropriate.
Contact details:
1) Great Ormond Street Hospital
Cleft Speech and Language Therapy, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, Great Ormond Street, London, WC1N 3JH
Tel: 0207 813 8110
2) Broomfield Hospital, Essex
Cleft Speech and Language Therapy, Broomfield Hospital, Court Road, Broomfield, Chelmsford, CM1 7ET
Tel: 0300 443 0241
Feedback and suggestions
Cleft & Plastics Surgery Secretary
Great Ormond Street Hospital
London WC1N 3JH
Phone: 020 7762 6970 (extension: 7922)