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The meeting was attended by eleven participants, six members of the Norwich 4HC team and eight people from EPIC Cambridge.

Questionnaire development

Development of the ‘Follow-up 6’ questionnaire is continuing in Cambridge. There are too many questions at the draft stage so it is being shortened before being finalised.The questionnaire will focus on healthy ageing.

Community groups

Members of community groups can request a talk about EPIC results and/or borrow some teaching equipment (available material is listed at www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk/resources).

Flavanols project

The Panel’s questions regarding the flavanols project presented at a previous meeting have been passed on to the lead researchers. They were very impressed by the range of questions asked by the Panel and their answers have been circulated to all members.

Presentation by Professor Kay-Tee Khaw (Chief Investigator – EPIC-Norfolk)

Prof. Khaw thanked the Panel for their contribution over the past five years and said that they have achieved so much. She presented a summary and update of the EPIC Norfolk Study and described possible future plans.

She presented results covering:

• Lung function as a predictor of health
• Diabetes and sugary drinks – sugar sweetened drinks and increased diabetes
• Hospital admissions were studied over a 10 year period and showed the chance of being admitted to hospital increases with age. Age was the biggest predictor but being male, low education level, being a current smoker and being obese also increased chances of hospitalisation.

Future plans included doing more research on dementia and focusing on quality of life in later-life.

Use of tissue blocks taken during clinical care

Shabina Hayat, Research Coordinator, talked to the Panel about the Human Tissue Act (2004) which came into force in September 2006 and regulates the use of human tissues in research and other contexts.

The Panel’s views were sought on the safeguards that the study is putting in place already and their input sought on future planning relevant to the act.

EPAP – A five year review – Nichola Dalzell

The many achievements of the Panel over the last five years since its inception were charted. In summary these include:

• 4HC planning and submission
• Attending 4HC at the beginning and making suggestions for improvements
• Feedback on appointment results and subsequent amendments
• Development of family study questionnaire/
• Addition of the GPS device to the 4HC appointment
• Feedback on the website and how to improve and promote it
• Strategies for feedback of study results, e.g. newsletter, public engagement, science festival, St Andrews Hall 20th Anniversary meeting
• Comments and input in newsletters
• Confidentiality Advisory Group application – opinions and statements of support from Panel members
• The Panel itself being studied as part of the RAPPORT study which was looking at public involvement in research.

Election of posts

Chair – Nichola Dalzell – re-elected unopposed

Website summary writer – Ron Brewer re-elected unopposed

Minute-taker – Steph Moore re-elected unopposed

Topics for further meetings

A visit from a member of an Ethics Committee.

International links – legal framework for use of tissues.

Social Care data.

Testing of online tools for future dietary assessment.

Hospital data.

Brief introduction to Dementia Platform UK (DPUK)

Steph Moore introduced a new national initiative to bring together cohorts from around the country, to strengthen dementia research by building and sharing what is already there and by looking at new ways of doing research in this area, e.g. experimental medicine and bioinformatics.

The team would like the Panel’s help in developing a workshop which would collect people’s views on the changing nature of research: data-sharing and linkage, intervention studies and the changing nature of public engagement. They would also like help with ways to recruit a broad range of participants to give their views.

DPUK will visit the EPAP meeting in October with more information.

History of Assembly House

The AGM ended with a talk about the building where the EPAP meetings take place.

Jan King of the Norwich Society gave a fascinating history of Assembly House.

The site and buildings have had many uses: a priest’s college, a meeting room, balls, a disastrous concert by Liszt, a Madame Taussaud’s exhibition, a Masonic Lodge, a school, a hospital, a YMCA and YWCA, a dance school and a wedding venue!

It has been changed many times and was totally knocked down in the Reformation, fell into decline during the industrial revolution and suffered a devastating fire in 1995 but it has been reused and rebuilt repeatedly – 700 years after a the first building was erected on the site.

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