CRANE now a UK-wide audit

We are delighted to announce that, as of 1 January 2023, cleft services across Scotland have joined teams in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in recording their data in the CRANE Database. This means that, for the first time, CRANE is a pan-UK audit, which in future will allow for benchmarking of services across all four nations in support of our shared quality improvement goals.

Scottish teams will be entering data prospectively from 1 January 2023. As such, it will take a few years until there is sufficient data from Scotland on the CRANE Database to enable meaningful comparison with other UK cleft services. However, discussions are ongoing about the feasibility of commencing retrospective data entry, if consent can be obtained for relevant patients. We will keep all stakeholders updated as discussions progress.

Craig Russell, CRANE Clinical Project Lead, commented: ‘This is an exciting development for CRANE that will undoubtedly help improve the care we offer to cleft patients across the whole UK. All of us at CRANE look forward to working with Scottish cleft services and other stakeholders to ensure we make the most of all of the opportunities offered by being part of a pan-UK audit.’

At the Cleft Care Scotland Annual Education Event in November 2022, representatives of the CRANE team had an opportunity to (1) meet members of Scottish cleft services in advance of Scotland joining CRANE in 2023, and (2) give an overview of CRANE resources and outputs that will be of particular value to the cleft service in Scotland. Read more about this here.