Professor Steve Maddern (Director of Public Health) introduced the Director of Public Health Annual Report and highlighted:

a)    It was a statutory requirement for the Director of Public Health to produce and publish an independent annual report;

b)    As Professor Steve Maddern was new to the post of Plymouth’s Director of Public Health, thanks went to Dr Ruth Harrell for her years of leadership as Plymouths previous Director of Public Health;

c)    A celebratory event was held in November 2024 to reflect on the past 10 successful years of the Thrive Plymouth programme, as well as setting the future priorities for the next 10 years.

Theresa Cullip (Public Health Specialist) delivered the report and highlighted:

d)    The Thrive Plymouth programme was initially launched to tackle some of the inequalities in life expectancy that Plymouth was experiencing, aimed to harness collective effort across the city;

e)    Originally, the programme was focussed on specific behaviours that were attributed to chronic diseases, responsible for 54% of deaths across the city. However, the programme had evolved in response to emerging challenges such as the Pandemic, cost of living and an ageing population;

f)     Over the last 10 years, annual themes had included mental health and wellbeing, housing and living environments, and dietary and health environments;

g)    The programme had created a network of partners, working across the city in collective effort to tackle the wider determinants of health;

h)    Health indicators demonstrated that improvements had been made since the programmes conception in 2014 however, challenges remained, particularly around healthy weight and obesity, mental health and wellbeing, and health inequalities;

i)     The refreshed approach would continue to target physical health (smoking, alcohol, diet, exercise and activity) while also focussing on the wider determinants of health (mental health, complex lives support, communities, social cohesion and loneliness);

j)     The Action Plan highlighted the importance of building a framework for monitoring and evaluating the progress of the Thrive programme, which was nearly complete;

k)    Following voting by partners at the launch event in November, ‘preventing ill health’ was selected as the primary theme for the next phase of the programme. The Thrive team were now developing a programme for prevention of ill health.

In response to questions, the Board discussed:

l)     The role of the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCSE) and Health and Wellbeing Hub Network in promoting and working alongside the Thrive Plymouth programme;

m)  Partner’s support for the direction and strategy of the programme, and alignment with the core principles;

n)    Healthwatch’s recent focus on health inequalities, and the ability for Healthwatch surveys, feedback and reports to inform the Thrive Plymouth programme;

o)    The programmes link into the Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Integrated Care System’s (ICS) Long Term Plan, and opportunities for its integration into the Joint Forward Plan, which would be refreshed this year;

p)    The accessibility and inclusive approach of the Thrive Plymouth programme for city partners and residents, and consideration of future digital capabilities;

q)    The importance of investigating and understanding changes in disease rates and life expectancy, and the challenge of identifying causal effects;

r)    The potential role of the University in conducting research projects to understand changes in the data, and their ongoing investigations into cardio-metabolic health.

The Board agreed to:

1.    Ask the Director of Public Health to liaise with the University of Plymouth in respect of potential research projects to aid the Thrive Plymouth Programme, including the effectiveness of weight management interventions;

2.    Support the recommendations and reiterate their, and their organisations’ support for the Thrive Plymouth programme.