Objective: To review the history of cleft care in the United Kingdom and the rationale and methodology of a national study.
Design: Descriptive overview to introduce this series of papers.
Setting: Fifty National Health Service cleft teams.
Patients/participants: Two age cohorts, 5-year-olds and 12-year-olds, with nonsyndromic complete unilateral cleft lip and palate and their parents.
Main outcome measures: Facial development and appearance, quality of bone grafts, speech, oral health and patient/parent satisfaction.
Conclusions: The case for a national assessment of cleft care is made. The methodology of the cross-sectional outcome study is described, together with a survey of training for recently appointed clinicians.