[1] Thomas Octavius Prichard was appointed as the hospital's first medical superintendent: he was one of the pioneers of "moral management", the humane treatment of the mentally ill.[2] The chapel was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and opened in 1863.

[4] In 2017, Channel 4 Dispatches aired Under Lock and Key,[5] which highlighted that people with learning disabilities and autism were being kept in secure hospitals, in concerning conditions.

[10] In 2018, the father of a girl who has autism and anxiety won a court case against Walsall Council, who had sought to prevent him from publicising details of the conditions his daughter was being detained under, in St Andrew's Hospital.

An earlier assessment had concluded that "the current setting is not able to satisfactorily meet her individual care needs" and a recommendation was made suggesting she be moved to a residential setting in the community with high support, but she continued to remain in the conditions, whilst her father was forced to defend legal action taken by Walsall Council to stop him publicly discussing his daughter and the conditions she was being detained under, at St Andrew's Hospital.

[11] St Andrew's Chief Executive, Katie Fisher, has spoken publicly about the challenges the hospital faces when discharging patients, as there is a lack of suitable community places for people to move on to.