Medical advances, new technology, NHS reorganisation and social change mean today's hospitals are almost unrecognisable from what was happening in some of these pictures from the Evening News archives, which capture the health service in Edinburgh in the 1950s and 1960s.
Yet the doctors, nurses and other staff all these decades ago had the same purpose as their counterparts today - to deliver the best possible care and treatment for their patients.
When some of these pictures were taken the National Health Service was less than 10 or 20 years old. Have a look through this picture gallery and get a feel for the atmosphere of the time.
1. Early kidney machine
An "artificial kidney" at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, April 1966. "Technicians show how the machine is connected to the kidney patient. An operation has to be performed on an artery to allow it to remain open. In this way the kidney machine can be used constantly." Photo: Joe Steele
2. Royal Edinburgh Hospital
Extension to the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Morningside, March 1965. Photo: TSPL
3. Ronnie Corbett drops in
Scottish entertainer Ronnie Corbett visits the children at Princess Margaret Rose hospital in Edinburgh in December 1967 on behalf of the Edinburgh Evening News Odeon Christmas Appeal. Photo: Stan Warburton
4. Christmas at Sick Kids
Nurses at the Sick Children's Hospital in Edinburgh singing Christmas carols in December 1967. Photo: Ian Brand