https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/wards-and-departments/departments/clinical-specialties/cleft-lip-and-palate-information-parents-and-visitors/clinics-and-wards-used-cleft-lip-and-palate-service/
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.
Wards
Children under the care of the Cleft lip and palate team are admitted to Magiepie for pre-operative care.
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.
Clinics
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.
What to expect
This 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 your child will need. Treatment is planned on an individual basis taking into account other illnesses and conditions your child may have.
As each child is different, we may need to adjust this plan from time to time but the following is a rough guide for those children with clefts of the lip and palate. Children with clefts of the lip only will need to be seen less frequently.
| Your child's age | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Birth | Hospital visit to family by one of the clinical nurse specialists. |
| 6-8 weeks | Outpatient MDT clinic - to meet the team to discuss the operation. |
| 3-6 months | Admission to hospital for lip repair |
| 9-12 months | Admission to hospital for palate repair |
| 12 months | Outpatient MDT clinic - post op |
| 2 years | Outpatient MDT clinic - speech and language therapy assessment and cleft clinic |
| 3 years | Outpatient clinic - speech and language therapy assessment |
| 5 years | Outpatient clinic - clinical review |
| 7.5 years | Outpatient MDT clinic - cleft clinic |
| 10 years | Outpatient clinic - clinical review |
| 12.5 years | Outpatient MDT clinic - cleft clinic |
| 15 years | Outpatient clinic - clinical review |
| 16 years | Outpatient MDT clinic - cleft clinic |
| 20 years | Outpatient clinic - clinical review |
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.
In addition to these appointments, at certain stages of treatment your child may also be seen separately in other departments such as speech and language therapy, audiology, orthodontics or psychology.