James Ward was officially opened on 29 Jan 1999 by retired Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Peter Brook.  It was a purpose built acute admissions and assessment ward on the Hills Road site for people over 65 with mental health problems.

It was Dr Brook’s dream when he first joined the mental health team at Fulbourn Hospital in 1981, to open an acute admissions ward at Addenbrooke’s.  He could see that his patients would  benefit form having easy access to all the medical facilities they might need.

The new 22 bed ward cost £1.7million to build and provided patients with modern facilities appropriate to their needs.  James Ward was previously located in the one of the ‘old’ Victorian wards at Fulbourn and moved to Addenbrooke’s as part of the Psychiatric Services for the Elderly strategy to integrate mention health services.

The patients, who stayed for an average of 7 weeks, were not bed bound and received a tailor-made care and treatment package. In addition to their medical treatment, they had a variety of daily physiotherapy and recreational activities such as yoga, relaxation, hand massage, cooking, bingo and visit to town.