Thrive Plymouth is the Council’s approach to tackling health inequalities within Plymouth. It is run by the public health team but consists of a network of organisations and individuals from the across the city who are all committed to addressing the unfair differences between our communities and improving the wellbeing of Plymouth residents.
Thrive Plymouth has been running since 2014, with each year having a theme around which the Thrive Plymouth Network comes together to share best practice and learning.
Following an in-depth evaluation of the past 10 years, Thrive Plymouth re-launched in November 2024 with a new underlying construct which aims to take a holistic approach to person’s wellbeing and considers different factors that impact on people’s health. The construct is Healthy Body, Healthy Mind, Healthy Places, Healthy Communities. A full summary of the evaluation and evidence base is in the final report.
Petals
This theme focusses on things that impact on your physical health. This includes lifestyle behaviours, prevention work (e.g. vaccinations and screening), and linking with NHS colleagues in primary and secondary care.
The four behaviours identified at the start of Thrive Plymouth - smoking, unhealthy diet, drinking alcohol, and physical activity – remain the leading causes of preventable ill health and early death. These risk factors also cluster in specific communities, (i.e. someone who drinks excess alcohol is more likely to also smoke) making the risk of inequalities in health even greater.
In Plymouth:
- 14.7% adults smoke higher than 12.7% nationally.
- Alcohol related admissions were 1,422 per 100,000 in 2022-23
- 27.9% of people eat the recommended 5 fruit or veg a day
- 18.4% of adults do less than 30 minutes of exercise per week
This theme focusses on things that affect our mental health and wellbeing. This includes the Five Ways to Wellbeing, mental illness, dementia and leaves room to explore aspects of mental wellbeing, whether related to connectivity to nature, creative pursuits, social connections, or sleep.
The Five Ways to Wellbeing were introduced during the Wellbeing year of Thrive Plymouth. These are known as CLANG:
- Connect – link up with the people around you.
- Learn – explore something new.
- Active – discover an activity you enjoy.
- Notice – be curious about the world you enjoy.
- Give – share something with others.
Evidence that shows that wellbeing is improved in those able to something each day for the five CLANG elements.
In Plymouth:
- 15.9% of adults have a diagnosis of depression (national average 13.2%)
- 25.4% of adults report high levels of anxiety (national average 23.3%)
- 7.7% of adults report a low satisfaction with life (national average 5.6%)
- 3.5% of people over 65 have a diagnosis of dementia in Plymouth (around 2000 people), likely to be an underestimate of the true prevalence
This theme looks at how our physical environment impacts health and wellbeing, from physical settings such as workplaces and schools, to the wider environment such as access to blue and green spaces. A ‘Healthy Place’ could be anywhere we find ourselves, so we consider this in the broadest sense.
The wider determinants of health reflect the place-related building blocks that impact on wellbeing, showing the importance of living and working conditions on overall health, in addition to individual behaviours or access to healthcare.
A recent report by the Health Foundation, entitled “What Makes Us Healthy?” identified the following place related areas that impact health.
- Physical surroundings – can act as a barrier to good health or provide opportunities to improve wellbeing enabling us to be active, feel safe, and access and use facilities to socialise.
- Good work – offers purpose, stability, security, and a regular income assuming that working conditions are safe, well paid and follow practices that protect workers’ wellbeing.
- Transport – if not affordable or accessible, can lead to isolation and lack of access to services.
- A healthy home – is affordable, warm, safe and stable and meets the needs of the individual allowing them to connect to community, work, and services.
- Education and Skills - can build strong foundations for supportive social connections, access to good work, lifelong learning and problem solving, and feeling empowered and valued.
- Money and Resources – are vital to ensuring good health, with poverty impacting all aspects of health.
This theme reflects the impact of our social environment on health and wellbeing. A community may be those who live near to us, our work colleagues, or those with a shared interest or identity. This petal includes both personal relationships (such as family and friends) and also wider community cohesion.
Positive personal relationships can act as protectors again stress and encourage healthy behaviours but there are certain groups (e.g. people who are unemployed, who have a disability, or people who are single/widowed) who are more likely to experience loneliness.
People living in neighbourhoods with higher levels of social cohesion experience better mental health, with those who are older and more financially well off more likely to feel a sense of belonging in their community
In Plymouth:
- 82% of people are able to meet up with family or friends at least once a week
- 24% of people reported that they often feel lonely
- 61% of people agreed that they belong to their local area
- Only 42% of people felt their local area is place where people from different backgrounds get on well together
Alongside the new construct are a set of new principles which outline the way Thrive Plymouth will work moving forward.
| Together | The greatest strength of Thrive Plymouth is our network members. We will continue to build a whole systems approach to tackling health inequalities and collaborate with as many partners as possible. |
| Human Centred | We will take a human centred approach to our work, recognising that people’s lives are complex and that sustainable change takes time. We will always strive to be compassionate and trauma informed, putting the voice of the lived experience at the centre of our work. |
| Respectful | We will respect everyone we work with and strive to create an inclusive network where everyone is welcome and has a part to play. This means valuing our small organisations as much as our larger ones and everyone having an equal voice and opinion on decisions. |
| Inequalities Focused | Ultimately everything we do will be with the goal of tackling health inequalities. To ensure health equity, we will tailor our work, providing extra support to those that need it most. |
| Versatile | We will provide a space to explore and try new things without fear of failing, so we can learn together and grow together. |
| Evidence Based | We will use the resources available to us to ensure we are delivering work that, where possible, is rooted in evidence. We will have a particular focus on prevention of ill health and health inequalities. |
