The hospital was built on the parkland of the former Middlesbrough borough asylum, St Luke's Hospital, Middlesbrough, which still specialises in mental healthcare. Opened in 1980 as a tertiary care centre called South Cleveland Hospital, it later became an extensive hospital with A&E and grew even larger through the closure of Middlesbrough General Hospital.
Facilities
James Cook University Hospital specialises in the treatment of cancer, heart conditions and neurosurgery as well as housing the regional neonatal intensive care and spinal injury units. Extensive new facilities were built by Mowlem under a Private Finance Initiative contract and opened in August 2003.
It is used to teach clinical medical students from Newcastle University Medical School as well as pre-clinical students based at Durham University's Queen's Campus Stockton enrolled on collaborative course between Newcastle University Medical School and Durham University. The hospital also has strong teaching and research links with the School of Health at Teesside University.