Addenbrooke’s Hospital Making A Huge Difference To Cleft Lip And Palate Patients
Addenbrooke’s, one of nine specialist cleft lip and palate care units in the country, is making a huge difference to hundreds of patients every year.
The centre, which is located near Cambridge, is part of the Cleft.Net.East (The East of England Cleft Network); every year, the multi-disciplinary team cares for more than 80 babies born with a cleft lip and palate, as well as providing continuous care for older children. The unit treats and supports more than 1,600 patients every year.
Addenbrooke’s Hospital is a specialist cleft centre covering the East of England region; every year in the UK, one in 700 babies is born with a cleft lip, palate or both and clefts are the most frequent facial birth defect in the UK. A cleft is a gap or split in the top lip or the roof of the mouth; they can differ in severity and are caused by irregular development of the face.
In most cases, clefts can be detected during pregnancy, usually at the 20 week scan, but they are sometimes not identified until the baby has been born. Every child born with a cleft lip or palate is placed under the care of a multi-disciplinary team; children born in the East of England are usually referred to Addenbrooke’s where they receive medical treatment, as well as speech therapy and support following surgery. Many children receive support from the centre well into their adult life and the centre also provides a very valuable service for parents and relatives.
Per Hall, clinical director and principle plastic surgeon at Cleft.Net.East, said that the hospital covers a large area, from Stevenage to Norwich, and it provides a very important service for children and their relatives. The centre is contacted by maternity staff from hospitals across the region when a baby is born with a cleft lip or palate and within 24 hours a specialist nurse is on hand to provide advice and support for the family. Mr Hall said that the aim of the service is to provide excellent standards of care for children and to ease their parent’s worries at what can be a very scary and stressful time.
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