Directory of European Resources > Eurocleft Clinical Network

The European Commission project: "Standards of Care for Cleft Lip and Palate in Europe: Eurocleft" ran between 1996 and 2000 and aimed to promote a broad uplift in the quality of care and research in the area of cleft lip and palate. The original Eurocleft project, a European intercentre comparison study published in 1992, revealed dramatic differences in outcome, which were a powerful stimulus for improvement in the services of respective teams. The study developed a preliminary methodology to compare practices and the potential for wider European collaboration including opportunities for the promotion of clinical trials and intercentre comparison was recognised.

The results of the 1996-2000 project include:

• a register of services in Europe, with details of professionals and teams invloved in cleft care, service organisation, clinical protocols and special facilities for research,
• a set of common Policy Statements governing clinical practice for European cleft teams,
• a set of common Practice Guidelines describing minimum recommendations for care that all European children with clefts should be entitled to,
• a set of common recommendations for Documentation governing minimum records that cleft teams should maintain,
• encouraging initial efforts to compare outcomes (results) of cleft care between centres.

The survey shows, as expected, considerable variation between countries in approaches to cleft care in Europe. There is a wide diversity in both models of care and national policies as well as clinical practices. Of the 201 centres that registered their clinical practices with the network, the survey showed 194 different protocols being followed for one cleft sub-type.

Cleft services, treatment and research have undoubtedly suffered from haphazard development across Europe. The chances that a child born with a cleft tomorrow in Europe will receive successful care depends almost entirely upon where he or she is born. Attainment of even minimum standards of care remains a major challenge in some communities and both the will to reform and a basic strategy to follow are overdue. It is hoped that the Eurocleft Consensus Recommendations reached during the present project will assist in improving the opportunities for tomorrow's patients.