The Cleft Development Group
About the Cleft Development Group (CDG)
The Cleft Development Group (CDG) has the overall responsibility for steering the work of the Cleft Registry and Audit NEtwork (CRANE) Database and has representation from patient groups, clinicians and commissioners.
- The CDG is responsible for guidance on all aspects of the delivery of re-organised cleft care in England and Wales and, when asked, by Scotland and Northern Ireland. It gives advice to the cleft centres, to health authorities, trusts, boards, commissioning groups and consortia and to the Departments of Health in England and the devolved administrations. It represents all stakeholders in cleft care and works with all to ensure the highest quality of cleft care in the UK to all patients who need it. It inherited the responsibilities of the Cleft Implementation Group and the Cleft Implementation Monitoring Group, which were advisory groups that helped implement the centralisation of cleft services after the Clinical Standards Advisory Group (CSAG) report 1998.
The CDG acts as a steering group, providing strategic governance for the project and has ultimate responsibility for the running of the CRANE Database. It is responsible for providing data for cleft births and cleft treatment for England and Wales and it endeavours, with the cooperation of the health services in Scotland and Northern Ireland, to do so for the whole of the UK.
The national CRANE Database had two primary functions:
- The recording of all birth and demographic data related to children born in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland with the congenital abnormality of clefting of the lip and/or palate.
- The recording of all treatment of children in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland with clefts of the lip and/or palate and the outcome of such treatment.
The Terms of Reference for the CDG are available to download here. If you have any questions about this information, please contact [email protected]
Please find below a list of current members of the CDG.
Members of the Cleft Development Group (CDG) in July 2025
| Samantha Calladine | Acting Lead Clinician Northern and Yorkshire Regional Cleft Service (Leeds) |
| Alistair Cobb | Clinical Director, South West Cleft Service |
| Christine Couhig | Lead Nurse / Chair Lead Nurse CEN |
| Rebecca Crawford | Chair of Clinical Psychology CEN & CFSGBI President |
| Claire Cunniffe | CEO, CLAPA |
| Sinead Davis | Chair of Cleft ENT/Audiology CEN |
| Su De | Chair & National Specialty Adviser (NSA) for Specialised Surgery in Children CRG |
| Anne Duarte | Patient Engagement Group Representative |
| Helen Extence | Clinical Director, Welsh Centre for Cleft Lip & Palate |
| Louisa Ferguson | TIG Committee |
| Kate Fitzsimons | Senior Research fellow, CRANE |
| Toby Gillgrass | Clinical Lead for The Cleft Surgical Service for Scotland |
| Hannah John | Deputy Chair Cleft Surgery CEN |
| Syme-Grant Jonathan | Lead Clinician (Trent) |
| Wendy Jones | Chair of Cleft Clinical Genetics CEN |
| Katie Jones | Senior Programme of Care Manager, Women & Children, Specialised Commissioning |
| Khurram Khan | Clinical Service Lead for the West Midlands Regional Cleft Service |
| Lyndsay Kirk | Chair of Clinical Coordinator/Manager CEN |
| Kate Le Marechal | Head of Service for Evelina London Cleft Service |
| Stacey Marriott | Transformation Lead – Elective Care and Health Inequalities, Specialised Commissioning |
| Serena Martin | Cleft Surgeon Northern Ireland Cleft Service |
| Joanna May | Chair of Paediatric Dentistry CEN |
| Gillian McCarthy | CLAPA External Engagement Coordinator |
| Kana Miyagi | Lead Clinician (CleftNetEast) |
| Eilish O’Connor | Lead SaLT Northern Ireland Cleft Service |
| Sandip Popat | Chair of Restorative Dentistry CEN |
| Ginette Phippen | Chair of CDG |
| Anthony Prudhoe | NHS England, National Senior Programme of Care Manager |
| Helen Robson | Lead Clinical Nurse Specialist, Member of Patient Engagement Group |
| Patricia Rorison | Lead Clinician (North Thames) |
| Craig Russell | Clinical Project Lead, The Crane Database, The Clinical Effectiveness Unit, RCSEngland |
| David Sainsbury | Vice-chair CDG/QMIC Lead; Clinical Lead Newcastle Cleft Service |
| Nicola Stock | Centre for Appearance Research |
| Sarah Stringer | Chair of Cleft Nursing CEN |
| Marc Swan | Clinical Director, The Spires Cleft Service, Oxford & Salisbury |
| Chris Sweet | Clinical Director, North West, North Wales & Isle of Man Cleft Network |
| Antonia Yiakoumetti | Patient Engagement Group representative |
Cleft Development Group Minutes
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – November 2022
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – June 2022
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – February 2022
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – October 2021
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – May 2021
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – January 2021
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – October 2020
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – June 2020
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – November 2019
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – May 2019
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – November 2018
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – May 2018
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – January 2018
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – October 2017
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – May 2017
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – October 2016
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – May 2016
CRANE Database – Cleft Development Group Minutes – October 2015
If copies of earlier minutes are needed, please contact [email protected]
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