Cleft

The Liverpool cleft service is part of the Northwest, Isle of Man and North Wales Cleft Network.

The Liverpool part of the service treats all children and adults born with a cleft of the lip and or palate, and those patients presenting with non-cleft velopharyngeal insufficiency from North Wales, East Cheshire, the Wirral, Liverpool, Warrington, Lancashire and Cumbria. There are 2 surgical hubs, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital for paediatric patients and Aintree University Hospital for adult patients. There are approximately 80 new babies born with clefts of the lip and/or palate treated by the Liverpool service. All patients are seen in a multi-disciplinary clinic that includes cleft nurses, cleft surgeons, cleft speech and language therapists, cleft paediatric dentists and orthodontists and cleft psychologists. The unit adheres to the national NHS cleft specification and contributes to national audit and the CRANE database ensuring that patient outcomes meet current national standards.