Introduction A lack of adequate sleep has a large impact on emotional and physical wellbeing, especially in vulnerable children and young people. A partnership involving a Children’s Trust, City Council and a Sleep Charity evaluated a behavioural sleep intervention in vulnerable children. Support and education were provided to parent/carers and young people to improve sleep patterns.

Methods The intervention entailed basic sleep education, a one-to-one session with a sleep practitioner to create an individualised sleep programme and ongoing telephone support. NHS ethics 16/YH/0490.

Results 39 children participated, median age 8.56 years (1.82–15.75 years; 79.5% male). 75% had a diagnosis of ADHD or were awaiting assessment, 25% were Looked After or Adopted Children (of whom 10% also had ADHD). Parents’ ratings of their child’s ability to self-settle to sleep improved from 1.13/10–6.73/10 following intervention (MD 5.62, 95%CI 4.56–6.69, p<0.05). Children gained an average extra 2.4 hours sleep a night. The average sleep hours were 6.27 hours at baseline and 8.62 following intervention (MD 2.35, 95%CI 1.64–3.06, p<0.05). There was a statistically significant improvement in time taken to settle, time to fall asleep, number and duration of night-waking’s.

The impact of sleep deprivation on the parents’ wellbeing improved for all measures. The overall WEMWBS score improved significantly following the intervention (MD 8.84, 95%CI 5.32–12.36, p<0.05). There was a reduction in the number of illnesses in both parent/carers and children following the intervention. Although some parents did not find the programme helpful, 100% said they would recommend it to others. ‘Regular telephone calls and support’ and ‘Learning about sleep’ were the main positive factors.

Discussion The success of the evaluation gave us confidence in the sleep delivery model. We have established a strategic group to support local implementation and produced a draft delivery model which we believe is replicable for other areas.