The problems of inequalities in access to cleft care

Apart from being a Plastic Surgery Registrar in the South West of England and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Cleft Collective at the University of Bristol, Matt Fell also fits in time to be one of CLEFT's trustees.

In this video he gives his thoughts on why there is an inequality in access to cleft care in lower and middle income countries as well as looking at the effect the Covid pandemic has had for children born with cleft lip and palate.

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We are CLEFT, we support cleft lip and palate teams in poorer countries by working with local surgeons and other specialists to help them develop high quality multidisciplinary cleft centres. We do this by visiting and working with them regularly, helping to provide education and training and donating much needed equipment. Our goal is to help local teams so that children born with clefts in these countries will have the same opportunities as those in the UK.

CLEFT also supports research in the UK which will potentially benefit the much greater number of cleft lip and palate patients in countries other than the UK. Our research projects include a pilot project to develop techniques for 3-D MRI scanning of the palate, a study of the muscles of the soft palate to try to improve the quality of the surgery as well as investigating submucous cleft palate development and therapy.

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One of our primary aims is to focus on multidisciplinary and comprehensive care for all children, young people and adults affected by cleft. Speech and Language Therapists play a vital role in the delivery of multidisciplinary care and enable patients to achieve their potential. One of CLEFT's trustees and recently retired speech therapist, Marie Pinkstone, shares why working with colleagues overseas has played such an important part in helping to build a stronger multidisciplinary team.
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Our mission

CLEFT was established in 2007 with one aim, to help improve the lives of children born with cleft lip and palate, either by funding research into the likely causes of the condition or by helping support teams in lower and middle income countries.
Donate

You can make a one-off donation today or sign up to giving a regular monthly gift. All donations, small or large, will help us to improve the lives of those born with cleft lip and palate both now and in the future. 100% of your donation today will go towards funding an international or research project thanks to a charitable trust covering all our administrative costs until February 2025.
About us

CLEFT was established in 2007 by cleft surgeon Brian Sommerlad - based at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, together with a former patient and a patient's grandmother.
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Investigations into the genetics of cleft lip and palate to understand more about why cleft lip and palate occurs.
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For over 40 years, I have been involved in operating on babies, children and adults who have been born with cleft lip and/or palate.
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At CLEFT, our vision is of a future where clefts are preventable. Until we get there, we want to improve the lives of those born with cleft lip and palate.
Trusts and Foundations

Today, 1-in-700 babies in the UK are born with a cleft lip and palate, the most common form of birth defect. The impact on a child’s life as they grow is profound. Typically, they will need at least four operations. They may also require ongoing tests, treatment or therapy. It will affect the way they look but also their speech, hearing and dental development. It can leave deep psychological scars.
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This important research looked at using MRI to assess whether further surgery could improve speech for people with repaired clefts.