A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the BC Children's Hospital Cleft Palate Program Waitlist.

OBJECTIVE

A 2016 review of the BC Children's Hospital Cleft Palate - Craniofacial Program (CPP) revealed that one-third of patients met the program's care recommendations and half met the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association guidelines. This study reviews patients on the CPP waitlist and determines median wait times and missed clinical assessments as well as identifies how wait times are influenced by medical complexity, specialized speech service needs, vulnerability, and distance from clinic.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional.

SETTING

BC Children's Hospital Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Program.

PATIENTS: Five hundred seventy-six waitlisted patients.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Additional wait time after recommended appointment date. Correlation of additional wait time with diagnosis, number of specialists required, speech services needed, vulnerability, and distance from the clinic. Missed plastic surgery, speech, and orthodontic assessments according to CPP team recommendations and ACPA guidelines.

RESULTS

Patients had a median additional wait time of 11 months (interquartile range: 5-27). Longer additional wait times were associated with a craniofacial diagnosis (P = .019), a need for formal speech assessments or evaluations (P < .001), or a requirement to see multiple specialists (P < .001). Vulnerability and distance from clinic did not affect wait times. Plastic surgery assessments were not available at the preschool and preteen time points for 45 (8%) patients, 355 (62%) patients were unable to access speech assessments, and 120 (21%) were unable to complete an orthodontic assessment.

CONCLUSION

Patients wait up to an additional year to be seen by the CPP and miss speech, orthodontic, and surgical assessments at key developmental milestones. Additional resources are required to address these concerns.