In 1920 a report was commissioned by the Board of Managers of the RIE to investigate dietetic arrangements. Until that time there had been no formal dietetic treatment in the hospital. The report recommended that a dietician be appointed to be 'operative in directly providing or supervising the provision of special diets for individual patients'. Professor Jonathan Meakins, who at that time held the Chair of Therapeutics, began to practice dietetics in Wards 25 and 26, aided by Sister Ruth Pybus, who went on to become a leading dietician in Great Britain.