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There were five members of EPIC staff (including two people carrying out the Fourth Health Check (4HC) as observers) and eight Panel members.

Cambridge Science Festival 2015

Panel members were told what EPIC is doing at the Cambridge Science Festival. They are launching a Cambridge Festivals in the Classroom library aiming to build a library of activities that each department has (usually) developed for the Science or Ideas Festival and which can be browsed by teachers, group leaders and organisations and which can then be borrowed free of charge. The central Cambridge Festivals team are supporting the library and are setting up a resources page on their website.

The library will be launched at two sessions in March. At these events EPIC staff will talk to people about the library and encourage them to join up with activities or to browse to find activities to borrow.

Presentation – Public and Patient Involvement in Research (PPIRes)

Jacqueline Romero (PPIRes Project Manager) and Barbara Talbot (PPIRes member) gave members an informative and interesting presentation about the PPIRes Panel and the work they do.

The Panel offers a service to researchers and aims to get public involvement started as soon as a researcher has an idea. PPIRes Panel members are sent information about the study and asked to get in touch if they are interested. Discussion groups are then held with the researcher and Panel members to look at areas such as the study proposal/participant information/ethics proposals/being on the steering committee. PPIRes Panel members offer a lay perspective.

Barbara Talbot talked about a study she was involved with regarding patient control of pain relief medication after knee surgery. Her involvement was from the beginning and covered issues such as the forms patients had to fill in, steering group matters, participant feedback and wording in study papers. PPIRes has also had a member on the Ethics Committee at UEA, trains researchers and members, and attends dissemination events.

Fourth Health Check (4HC) update

The 4HC is progressing well and has now seen 3900 participants. The use of a GPS device (which the Panel worked on during planning) will shortly be introduced.

Family questionnaire update

The Panel were updated on responses to the questionnaire and any issues. Several practical considerations that need to be considered include children living abroad, handling sensitive issues, consent and families who are not in touch or communicating.

New questionnaire feedback

The topics covered in the draft questionnaire discussed at the last meeting included lifestyle, health and well being, lifelong experiences, diet, childhood, sleep and sexual function. Feedback suggested adding caring for dependents and including new topics such as vision, dental, diet behaviour and the appeal or otherwise of healthy foods. The effect of important exposures during life could be useful as could outcomes important to the quality of life such as sleep.

The questionnaire is now being refined for presentation to management prior to more testing and proof reading with the aim of having it ready to send out to participants within six months.

Future agenda items

The Panel suggested two areas that they would like covered in future meetings:

• What research has EPIC done around obesity?
• A talk from a member of an Ethics Committee