The sheer scale of the task is what first makes an impression in today's picture, taken in the kitchens at Glasgow's Stobhill Hospital in 1931.

The staff, almost all female, are dwarfed by the huge cooking pots and pans, not to mention the vast dimesions of the room itself.

The quality of hospital food is an ongoing controversary, though this operation looks very short on chilled convenience food brought in from elsewhere to be reheated, which many complain about now. Hot cooked meals, and plenty of them, seem to be the order of the day.

Stobhill, in the Springburn area of Glasgow, was originally a Poor Law hospital, built at the turn of the last century, and was incorporated into the new National Health Service in 1948.

The 21st century has seen a range of new buildings and upgrades, though older parts, such as the clock tower, are protected as B-listed buildings.