Cleft Lip & Palate Surgical Service
Published on 26 March 2026
Based in the Royal Hospital for Children and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, the service provides cleft lip and palate treatment and care to children and adults.
The service includes assessment, specialist surgery, specialist nursing and clinical psychology. Their aim is to provide a lifelong, fair and equitable service to everyone in Scotland born with a cleft lip and/or cleft palate or velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI). Multidisciplinary team working is encouraged and delivered through our local multidisciplinary clinics throughout Scotland.
Cleft lip/palate is the most common craniofacial condition and represents 1:700 live births. The number of births within Scotland fluctuates but, on average, around 75 babies are born with a cleft lip and/or palate in Scotland every year.
The entry points to the service are where:
- A sonography scan detects the presence of a cleft lip antenatally
- A baby is born with a cleft lip and/or cleft palate
- VPI is detected during childhood
- A patient with any of the above conditions moves to Scotland and wishes to access the service
- An adult with any of the above conditions wishes to seek consultation for assessment or discussion relating to further treatment.
Within the service, patients follow well defined pathways in conjunction with the Cleft Care Scotland Managed Clinical Network.
You can learn more about services within Scotland at: