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There were 18 people at the July AGM Meeting of EPAP, 12 participant representatives and 6 researchers from the EPIC study team.

The opportunity was taken to let everyone say a few words to explain their background and their interest in helping through EPAP.

Matters arising from previous minutes

Glasses, depicting various eye conditions were brought to the meeting for the Panel to try out.

The Family Questionnaire (to see if the next generation of present EPIC participants would be willing to be surveyed) has now been approved by the Ethics committee and copies were handed out for Panel members to fill in and return, should they wish to do so.

Approved copies of EPIC Newsletter 5 were also handed round for information.

Election of task-associated Panel members

After discussion and with no other Panel members putting themselves forward it was agreed that the present chair, minute taker and website summary writer would continue these duties for the coming year.

A vote of thanks was given by Professor Kay Tee Khaw to the Panel for their time given and hard work carried out.

Future meetings

It was agreed that Monday mornings (10.30am to 12.30pm) suited most members and that future meeting dates would be in October 2014 and January, April and July 2015.

Subjects suggested for future agendas included what is happening at other EPIC sites in Oxford and around Europe and how data from different times of year is assessed to deal with seasonal variations in the information collected.

EPAP member questionnaire

The RAPPORT study findings had identified the need for Participant and Patient Involvement (PPI) evaluation. An evaluation/feedback questionnaire was handed out to collect Panel members’ views on taking part in the EPIC Participation Panel.

Update on 4HC

Approximately 3200 participants have been seen. Recruitment is going well and approaches are currently being made to those participants who have changed practices since the beginning of the project. The addition of the GPS device to the 4HC is about to be put in to the ethics committee for approval.

A decision has been made that the 4HC will be extended until the end of 2015 to enable approaches to be made to all remaining participants who may want to take part in this phase.

Proposed new EPIC questionnaire

A new questionnaire is being developed and ideas are being collated from the Panel and researchers about possible content. The questionnaire will go out to all participants remaining on the study, who are alive, have not requested to be removed from the study and for whom there is a current address.

The Panel members were asked for ideas on questions/subjects they feel could be covered in a future questionnaire and several suggestions were made for possible inclusion.

Presentation

Prof Kay Tee Khaw gave an illustrated talk on the levels of Vitamin D and the effect on people’s health. Questions from the Panel members included whether people with outdoor occupations have higher vitamin D levels and would the cod liver oil provided routinely to schoolchildren in the past have been effective in the prevention of osteoporosis?

Photo opportunity

The opportunity was then taken to photograph the current members of the Panel.

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