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

a)     The ten-year Thrive Plan was launched in February 2014;

b)    There was an initial focus on the “4-4-54 construct” to address four health behaviours (poor diet, lack of physical activity, tobacco use and excess alcohol consumption) which contributed to four diseases (coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer and respiratory disease) and were responsible for 54% of deaths in Plymouth;

c)     Health inequalities were intrinsically linked to external factors – it was often beyond the scope of individual actors to combat overall inequality;

d)    The programme operated with annual “themes” which brought in a diverse array of participants;

e)     Organisations involved included – local schools, Plymouth Community Homes and Livewest;

f)      The Council had achieved the sustainable food silver award across the City;

g)     There were numerous positive changes observed – smoking rates fell, healthy behaviours in children had risen and mortality rates for the four indicated diseases had fallen;

h)    Whilst life expectancy had improved, the City still trailed behind the national average;

i)      The refreshed approach for a further year would be launched officially on the 28th of November – widening the construct to look at “healthy body, healthy mind, healthy places and healthy communities”;

j)      The updated Thrive Plymouth construct included the T.H.R.I.V.E principles (Together, Human Centred, Respectful, Inequalities Focused, Versatile and Evidence Based);

k)     The updated approach aimed to link with Plymouth City Council’s strategic goals e.g. Community building and community empowerment.

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

l)      In general, the cross-cutting approach to health appeared to have worked   effectively;

m)   Women’s health still remained a key area of investigation for improvement.

Councillor Cresswell (Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Apprenticeships) added;

n)    In addition to the multi-pronged approach in its impacts on children’s nutrition, government initiatives such as breakfast clubs for primary school aged children would have a positive impact;

o)    It was the culmination of local, national, collective and individual approaches which would forge a real impact in this area.

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) added:

p)    Early intervention and engagement at a community level was often a rarity at Local Government level but the current Thrive report employed this tool effectively;

q)    Although it was a challenge, it was hoped that the finding and successes of the report could be utilised in a truncated form to lobby for national funding.

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) added:

r)     There was a major disparity in Public Health funding between the City of London and more deprived rural locations rural locations;

s)     Dentistry also had a major effect on children’s public health outcomes;

t)     Various funding schemes caused a major concern for achieving public health outcomes within the City of Plymouth.

 Councillor Dann (Cabinet Member for Customer Services, Sport, Leisure & HR, and OD) added:

u)    The Active to Thrive Plan had taken a dynamic, co-operative and cohesive approach across the city which was essential in pulling in various activities across the City;

v)     This included events such as working with Poole Park Farm to render children in touch with green space, the Horizon’s Bid, ensuring children have access with the sea, swimming lessons, collaboration work that goes on between Plymouth active Leisure and the YMCA and Plymouth Community Trust, Well-being Hubs throughout the community.

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) added:

w)   Over 75% of the revenue budget was being spent on helping people and the Thrive Plan was a major component of this.

In response to questions, it was explained:

x)    Whereas the area of women’s health still required attention, various comparative gaps continued to close;

y)     Two major areas of statistical analysis­ for the directorate were in identifying real improvement in outcomes as well as comparatively with England;

z)     Childhood obesity remained a major concern for the directorate and was heavily correlated with deprivation;

aa)  Policies employed to counteract childhood obesity included; “Healthy Place Schools”, recalibration of planning laws and restrictions in respect to fast food establishments within distances of schools, abiding by national policies relevant to this area of concern as well as being at the national forefront of this area, gathering data on the issue and using this to identify  actionable considerations;

Cabinet agreed to:

1. Endorse the report for publication as the annual Director of Public Health report and also publish and launch to the Thrive Plymouth network;

2. Specific recommendations within the report are:

a.     To refresh Thrive Plymouth for a further ten years;

b.     To broaden the Thrive Plymouth framework to include Healthy Body, Healthy Mind, Healthy Places and Healthy Communities as integral to health;

c.     To provide more structure to PCC public health team’s leadership role in Thrive Plymouth.