Information about your new melatonin prescription

Important information for parents and carers

A new prescription of Slenyto® (melatonin) has now been issued for your child as discussed in your recent consultation. 

Slenyto® is a first line treatment for insomnia (sleep difficulties) in autistic children aged 2 to 18 years old. It is available in a flavourless and odourless mini-tablet only which has been designed to be easily swallowed with or without water.

Please see the links at the bottom of this page for more information 

Boy asleep cuddling a toy monkey
A Paediatric does card illustrating the rage of medication.

Collecting your prescription

Your prescription is only available for collection from the Outpatient’s Pharmacy at Barnsley Hospital which is located at the top of the escalators in the outpatient lobby of the hospital - we are unable to send to a Community Pharmacy or deliver.

Your prescription has been sent electronically, however, hospital pharmacies operate slightly differently to your local one. The Outpatient Pharmacy will not start to process your prescription until you make contact with the them directly . This can be done by attending the Pharmacy (at the hospital) in person , or by contacting them by telephone on 01226 730000 and arranging a time for collection. At busy times, you may have to wait up to 30 minutes for your prescription to be dispensed. 

Please note, the Pharmacy team do not contact you to arrange collection.

Outpatient pharmacy

OPEN: Monday to Friday, 9am until 5pm 

CLOSED: Evening, Weekends and Bank Holidays.

The Pharmacy can be found at the top of the escalators in the main outpatients waiting area.

Telephone: 01226 730000 and ask for the outpatient pharmacy.

Medication review

Initial review (following your 1st prescription)

You will be contacted by one of our Specialist Children’s Nurses after 4 weeks of starting the new medication at a pre-arranged time and date to review the effectiveness of the medication. An appointment for this will be sent by text in due course.
 

Ongoing reviews

In order for re-prescriptions to be issued, you will be required to attend regular medication review appointments. Failure to do so may result in your medication being stopped.

Repeat prescriptions

A repeat prescription can be requested by contacting 01226 644876 and selecting option 4.

We require 5 working days to issue prescriptions so please contact us when you have 1 week’s medication left to avoid running out as we are unable to offer on the day prescriptions. It is OK if your child misses a few nights as we do encourage regular breaks from sleep medication.

If medication is effective, we can ask your family GP to consider taking over future prescriptions under a shared care agreement. Your nurse will ask you about this at your review appointment should they feel it is suitable to do so at that time.

Please note: only one month of medication will be prescribed at one time.

Accessing further support and advice.

We would always encourage good sleep routines and sleep hygiene as this will help the melatonin to be effective. Please use support strategies that you received from The Sleep Workshop. Links to further support and resources can be found below.


If you have any questions or concerns about your medication, please contact our department on 01226 644876, option 4 to arrange a call back from the nursing team. Please note, this may not be the same day. 

About your medication

Sleep resources

Useful websites

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  • Page last reviewed: 5 March 2025
  • Next review due: 5 March 2026