It is managed by the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust.

[4] The infirmary has its origins in a dispensary which opened on Castle Hill in 1781 and a fever hospital established in 1815.

[5] A larger site on Ashton Road, which had previously been known as the Springfield Estate,[6] was bought for £2,471 in 1888[7] and, following a donation of nearly £10,000 by James Williamson, a local businessman,[8] the first building of the new hospital, designed by architects Paley and Austin,[9] was opened by the Duke and Duchess of York in 1896.

[7] The Huggett Suite, a unit for treating stroke patients built at a cost of £1 million, opened in spring 2017[10] and a new therapies outpatient department, built at a cost of £1.2 million, opened in 2018.

[11] An inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published in February 2017 gave the hospital a good overall rating with caring graded as outstanding but with patient safety requiring improvement.