Patient satisfaction with cleft lip and palate services in a regional centre.

We sent a questionnaire to the parents of 478 children aged between 3 and 14 years who are under the care of the cleft team at the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, and received 341 replies. A wide variety of questions were asked about aspects of patient satisfaction, and the results are reported and discussed. There was a high level of satisfaction with the service provided but 30% of parents would like to be more involved in treatment-planning decisions; 33% thought they had either not enough or no knowledge about cleft lip and palate and its treatment. Only 8% of parents would rather have seen the specialists separately than together in the joint clinic.