Ruth Harrell (Director of Public Health) introduced the report and highlighted:

a)    It was a requirement that the Director of Public Health set out a report annually covering a topic, or topics, of their choosing, which this year was Thrive Plymouth, launched in 2014 as a ten year programme to tackle heath inequalities, focusing on how lifestyle factors impact health and wellbeing;

b)    There are external factors that can influence health wellbeing such as a global pandemic or an economic downturn, so not all factors could be controlled locally, but the department could do their best to support people;

c)    Around 2010, life expectancy continued to increase, but not at the same rate as previously or as much that had been expected, and part of the reason for this was that life expectancy for people in more deprived areas was slowing down as the improvements were less than those available to wealthier people, due to national policies and the impact of austerity;

d)    The latest data shows a decrease in life expectancy in data set 2018-2020, impacted by the COVID19 pandemic;

e)    More deaths were still being experienced per week that expected, and research was being carried out to look into whether this was a result of the COVID19 pandemic, whether directly from the virus, or complications caused by it, or perhaps if it has been impacted by the lack of health care available during the pandemic;

f)     The difference in life expectancy between Plymouth and England, for both males and females, was 0.6 years, but Plymouth had the highest expectancy in comparison to areas of similar sizes;

g)    Healthy life expectancy had also been looked at, as living a long life could be different to living a long life but in bad health and in Plymouth male healthy life expectancy had gone above the England average, whilst the same data for females showed below the England average;

h)    Every year Thrive Plymouth had had a different annual focus, bringing in more partners, and that network had been highly valued through the COVID19 pandemic;

i)     It had been recognised that the language of behaviours and lifestyle was not solely about choice because external factors weight those choices, something that was more apparent at this time than when the programme launch;

j)     Mental health and well-being had become a central pillar of Thrive Plymouth, and it was important to understand the role it played in how people could lead healthier lives, reduce the impact of trauma and how they could be resilient to challenges;

k)    A considerable amount of momentum and learning had been gained over the length of the programme and her recommendation moving forward would be to continue the programme.

Councillor Mary Aspinall (Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care) added:

l)     Thanks to the teams for their work on the report;

m)  It was important to look into why women had a longer life expectancy but a shorter healthy life expectancy;

n)    There were long-lasting effects of COVID19 that were still impacting people;

o)    The news that only 5,000 steps a day were needed was welcome news to those with mobility issues;

p)    She was looking forward to working more with the Director of Public Health to improve the health of Plymouth residents.

On reflection Councillors mentioned:

q)    The importance of determining why women’s healthy life expectancy was lower than the England average and looking at addressing the causes, which would link with the Aging Well agenda;

r)    The Child Poverty Action Group had discussed the need to tackle the issue of women’s skills development and the importance of women’s financial contribution to the home;

s)     It was important to work with multiple departments on tackling poverty in order to improve health;

t)     Certain aspects of health across the city had been improved since the launch of Thrive Plymouth;

u)    Preventative treatment and improvements in mental health were vital to the improvement of health overall;

v)    Research could be done into the health offer Plymouth had received through the NHS and national government and if that had impacted health, particularly women’s health;

w)   The council were doing a number of other things, such as promoting active travel and providing low-cost or free access to activities that supported Thrive’s aims of keeping everybody active.

The Cabinet agreed to:

1.    Note the contents of the report, and in particular, the concerning impact of the cost of living crisis on health and wellbeing;

2.    Require the Director of Public Health to return to Cabinet in Spring 2024 with a proposal for the future of Thrive Plymouth.