The Inaugural National Sleep Pharmacy Network Symposium 2026

Welcome from the Co-Founders of NSPN. Audience introductions and overview of the day's programme.

An exploration of the neuroscience underpinning sleep and wakefulness, covering the two-process model of sleep regulation and circadian rhythm physiology. The session also provides an overview of common sleep disorders encountered in clinical practice, providing the scientific foundation for understanding their pharmacological management.

Louise Berger is an Occupational Therapist and Behavioural Sleep Medicine Specialist who founded and leads the NHS Insomnia Clinic at Royal Surrey County Hospital, where she has delivered CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I) in secondary care for over a decade. She sits on the NICE expert panel developing new digital CBT-I guidelines, lectures on UWE's PGDip in Sleep Medicine, and recently received the Most Innovative Practice award at the Occupational Therapy Excellence Awards.

This session starts with the patient's experience of insomnia and demonstrates how CBT-I addresses the mechanisms that maintain it, making it the most widely recommended treatment for insomnia internationally. The session will also explore how CBT-I principles and techniques can be delivered and supported by pharmacists in clinical practice.

Drawing on real-world cases from a specialist sleep pharmacy service, this session explores the clinical challenges that arise when managing insomnia in practice, including comorbidities, polypharmacy, medicines optimisation and deprescribing. Attendees will gain practical insight into how pharmacists can navigate complex insomnia presentations across a range of patient groups.

This session explores the spectrum of hypersomnolence disorders, from secondary causes and idiopathic hypersomnia to narcolepsy types 1 and 2. Attendees will gain an understanding of the diagnostic criteria, clinical distinctions and pharmacological management options, including wake-promoting agents and newer targeted therapies relevant to pharmacy practice.

Limb movement disorders are more common than most people think. This talk aims to describe the pathophysiology of the most common limb movement in sleep disorders; restless leg syndrome (RLS) and periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD), their assessment and diagnosis including how the condition can be masked or misattributed to other disorders. Attendees will gain an understanding of the updated treatment guidelines including unfavourable but widely used medicines and implications for medicines optimisation.

Drawing on experience from a tertiary paediatric sleep and narcolepsy service, this session covers the recognition and pharmacological management of sleep disorders in children and young people. Particular focus is given to the complex patient population presenting with neurodevelopmental conditions, including severe autism and significant learning disability, where sleep disorders are highly prevalent and profoundly impact on quality of life for children and families.

Drawing on his research at the Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU) at Imperial College London, the only academic research unit dedicated to self-care in the world, Dr Austen El-Osta will explore how professionals delivering sleep services, and the NSPN network, can play a meaningful role in supporting the public with their health in ways that align with the government's Long Term Plan. The session will examine the public health case for sleep, the role of self-care and professional networks in reaching communities, and the practical ways in which sleep medicine can contribute to wider population health outcomes.