Directory of European Resources > Eurocleft Clinical Network > Registered Clinical Teams > Iceland

Clinical Teams in ICELAND

• Reykavik

Population
Approximately 285,000.

Health Service
Iceland’s health service is predominantly organised and run by the state. All major hospitals are funded by the state as well as most local health centres with a relatively small private sector. The administration of the health service is lead by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the hospitals/health centres have local administrations. The health system is quality controlled by the Office of the Director General for Health. All Icelandic citizens have the right to healthcare and all treatment delivered under hospital admission is free of charge.

Cleft Care Organisation
Iceland sees around 10* new born babies each year with clefts of the lip and/or palate. Since the 1930’s all cleft surgery has been carried out in Reykjavik at the University hospital however, prior to this patients were sent to Copenhagen, Denmark. All primary and secondary surgery is centralised in Reykjavik and only one plastic surgeon is involved in the primary operations for which the protocol is standardised. Orthodontic treatment and speech therapy are provided in a mixed private/hospital based system and are heavily subsidised by the state. All cleft treatment is paid for by the state with a small fee from the patient and travel expenses are covered. The clinic is probably the smallest national cleft palate unit in the world and has few cases because of the low population of Iceland. An organisation for parents was founded in 1995 and is very active.

Challenges to Attaining the Eurocleft Consensus Recommendations
The recommendations of the Eurocleft BIOMED II and INCO network on policy and practice in cleft care are already being implemented in Iceland. The centralised system of care has been enhanced by involvement in the network with the Reykjavik team becoming more formalised, gaining the expertise of a geneticist and having even more commitment to the process of evaluating practice and results. It is hoped that the network’s proposals on documentation can help cement the approach to standardised record taking. As yet there has been no Icelandic participation in intercentre comparisons or clinical trials.

Future Plans
It is hoped that Iceland will continue to co-operate in the European clinical network established by the Eurocleft BIOMED II Programme.

* Number of clefts reported by national representative for Iceland