The hospital, which replaced earlier hospitals such as Oulton Hall, Hatfield Hall and Cardigan Hospital, was built at a cost of £2 million and opened by Princess Alexandra on 11 July 1972.^[1] The hospital was designed as a series of villas, each named after a local area and each intended to accommodate a category of resident i.e. children, adolescents, adults, geriatrics, or severely disabled.^[1]

A medium secure unit, known as Newton Lodge, was built in the north east of the hospital site for mentally disordered offenders in the early 1980s.^[2]

The hospital started offering a broader range of psychiatric services, after the Stanley Royd Hospital closed in 1995.^[3] A patient with paranoid schizophrenia was charged with murdering a fellow-patient at the hospital in December 1998.^[4]

The "Unity Centre", a new building with state of the art therapeutic areas, en-suite bathrooms and vastly improved patient relaxation areas, which was built at a cost of £17 million, was opened in September 2017.^[5]

The Mental Health Museum (previously known as the Stephen Beaumont Museum of Mental Health) is located at the hospital. It contains artefacts and exhibits from Stanley Royd Hospital in Wakefield.^[6] Artefacts include restraining equipment, a padded cell, photographs, medical and surgical equipment, and documents. There is also a scale model of Stanley Royd Hospital, which was the museum's original location until the hospital closed in 1995.^[7][8]

• List of hospitals in England