About the Cystic Fibrosis Unit

The Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) is a designated specialist centre and cares for approximately 180 children from newborn to 16 years.

The unit has a full specialist multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, dietitians, pharmacist, psychologists, social work and administrative staff.

Most referrals now come from the national cystic fibrosis newborn screening programme (introduced in 2007).

The CF Unit works closely with a number of other departments within GOSH, in particular Paediatric Radiology, Endocrinology and Gastroenterology.

There is a strong research collaboration between GOSH and the other London cystic fibrosis specialist paediatric CF units – Royal Brompton Hospital, Royal London Hospital and King’s College Hospital.

In some cases the care of children can be shared between a local hospital and the specialist service at GOSH. Care is directed by the specialist centre and the local hospital has to be a designated network for CF care. Network hospitals should have all the appropriate facilities and staffing to ensure that a high-quality CF service can be delivered under the guidance of the GOSH team. Only a proportion of care will be received locally as it is important that the specialist GOSH team regularly review all children under their care.

The outreach team provides a link between the centre and local team.

The department is actively involved in research to benefit children and families with cystic fibrosis.

We also run an ongoing quality improvement programme which regularly reviews various aspects of the service, continually striving to improve the care we provide.