Children are set to receive better mental health care on a regional daily’s patch after a successful campaign by the newspaper.

The Hull Daily Mail’s Kids in Crisis campaign launched in January 2015 after health reporter Allison Coggan identified serious issues around the care and support for young people with mental health issues in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The Mail demanded better out-of-hours support for families, action to reduce waiting lists, better services and the reinstatement of inpatient beds following the closure of Hull’s inpatient unit in 2013 – which led to waiting lists of up to a year for treatment and young people being sent to inpatient units all over the country.

Now, as a result of the campaign, NHS England announced the procurement for a new inpatient unit for children from Hull and the East Riding, with a contract for the new unit to be awarded by November.

The front page which launched the campaign in January 2015

Said Allison: “The families and the Mail have secured a major victory.

“We demonstrated the pain being inflicted on children and their families by having to travel hundreds of miles across the country for mental health treatment when all research shows children have much better recovery rates when they are treated close to home, near their families.

“Our children needed this unit and we’re delighted our campaign has helped the families achieve their goal.”

With families on board after the campaign’s launch, the Mail ran a series of exclusives and features to highlight the scandal and received widespread support from readers and Hull’s three MPs – including former Health Secretary Alan Johnson.

Backers also included councillors at both Hull City Council and East Riding Council, celebrities from the area including actress Gemma Oaten and mental health professionals – many of whom spoke to the Mail off the record about the desperate need for improvements in services.

Mail editor Neil Hodgkinson said: “It has taken almost 18 months to help end the scandal of our children being sent all over the country when they needed their families most but we have now achieved our aim.

“We are sure NHS England’s decision to establish a new unit will come as a massive relief to those families who have already endured so much.

“Children from Hull and the East Riding will now receive the care and treatment they always deserved and we are pleased to have played a part in reinstating inpatient services in East Yorkshire.”