The hospital had its origins in the Ipswich Workhouse Infirmary, which was designed by Henry Percy Adams and built by George Grimwood & Son, and which opened in 1889.

[3] The hospital started implementing the Lorenzo patient record systems in December 2013.

Located at the South-East corner of the hospital land, the building includes an Emergency Department.

[7] In November 2013 it was reported that the Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust had failed to meet a number of targets set by the Ipswich and East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group and faced financial penalties at a time when it already faced a deficit of £5.5 million.

The trust has developed a tool that gives three hours' warning when the target is likely to be missed, based on factors such as acuity and intensive therapy unit bed numbers.