It was the first hospital in Spain dedicated to the rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injuries, introducing some of the techniques developed by Ludwig Guttmann a few years earlier into the country.

[1][2] Its first medical director was Dr. Miguel Sarrias Domingo, who was a student both of Josep Trueta in Oxford and Ludwig Guttmann in Stoke Mandeville.

It has been situated in Badalona since 2002, and is a reference hospital for medical-surgical treatment and rehabilitation of people affected by spinal cord injuries as well as people with brain damage and other disabilities with a neurological origin.

The Institut Guttmann Foundation, named after the hospital, was founded in 1962 by Guillermo González Gilbey, who, after experiencing paraplegia following a traffic accident in 1958, was treated in Stoke Mandeville Hospital by Dr Guttmann.

[5] In 2015, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of its inauguration, it was awarded the Medalla d'Honor del Parlament de Catalunya.