Prevention
Ideally we want to prevent heart disease before the risk factors we describe above have the chance to cause problems. But it is never too late – and never too early – to prevent poor health. Wherever we start from, there is something we can do to improve our health and reduce our future risk. And, crucially, prevention is something we have all got the power to do.
Getting more active – Torbay on the Move
Our Torbay on the Move strategy aims to support and encourage residents to be active in a way that works for them and at a level that provides significant benefits to physical and mental wellbeing. A range of partners across Torbay joined together to contribute to the consultation process and provide insight on the strengths and assets of Torbay and their shared experience. They also contributed to the creation of the vision for Torbay on the Move:
‘More people, more active, more often’
This simple vision statement acts as a unifying force for Torbay Council and our partners. With investment and capacity, increasing activity levels across Torbay has the potential to make a positive contribution, not just to health and wellbeing agendas but also to the local economy and the environmental agenda with an established link to cleaner air, less carbon, and cleaner and safer roads.
Torbay on the Move has eight strategic areas and describes how we can be active in outdoor environments, schools and workplaces.
Healthy Eating
Schools and families
We have developed guidance and support for schools through the Torbay Healthy Learning offer. This supports schools to promote healthy eating, maintain a balanced diet and make healthy choices in school, home, and the community. The programme supports teachers and school staff to educate children about where their food comes from and helps equip them with life skills to be able to cook confidently and prepare a range of food. For more information visit Torbay Healthy Learning
Torbay recognises that there are many families struggling financially and not eligible for free school meals. Over £2 million has been committed by the Council from the Household Support Fund 2023/24 to provide additional welfare and community support to families who cannot afford to cover the costs of food and fuel, regardless of their eligibility status. This includes providing funding to food banks, baby banks, and social supermarkets to help them meet increased demand.
Sustainable food communities
Local Motion works to strengthen families, food insecurity and financial wellbeing. The invitation is for people to step forward, get involved in and lead the direction of work. The food insecurity work is looking to answer the question:
How can we move from food crisis to being able to sustain ourselves?
The first approach, led by Ellacombe Community Partnership, Turning Heads, and Yes Brixham, is a community project generating ideas in their communities and trying them out to see which ones have most impact.
The second is a whole food system approach. This is taking a Torbay-wide view of food, including education and skills, community connection, support to food enterprise, and collaboration between businesses and institutions, building on the excellent work already in place across our communities.
For more information visit Torbay Communities.
Using our planning and transport systems
Active Travel
Torbay adopted its first Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan in 2021, the first of its kind to look at the whole network of Torbay and provide a blueprint for connecting the three towns by active travel. Further development and delivery of this plan is a key aspect of creating a Torbay which enables active travel. Linking these infrastructure plans into wider system change and community activation strategies such as through Torbay on the Move is a critical next step.
Spatial Planning
Torbay Council has well established links between its local planning authority and public health functions and has been identified for its good practice on spatial planning for good public health. Current policies such as the Torbay Local Plan and Healthy Torbay Supplementary Planning Document have identified both the need and guidance for new planning developments to tackle the causes of ill health and promote healthy lifestyles.
Stop Smoking
The Devon Smokefree Alliance is a partnership across public health, the NHS, trading standards, environmental health, children’s centres, schools, youth settings, fire services, police, housing, community safety partnerships and the voluntary sector. The Alliance oversees and coordinates activity to prevent and reduce smoking within the local population. The Alliance’s strategy covers three key priorities:
- Protecting children from the harms of tobacco and to prevent uptake.
- Reducing health inequalities caused by smoking.
- Cross-sector, strategic collaboration around tobacco control, and support for the development of a smokefree culture within key organisations.
The NHS Long-Term Treating Tobacco Dependence programme offers support to pregnant women and their partners to stop smoking. In Torbay, women who wish to stop smoking are offered support from an advisor and access to nicotine replacement therapy or e-cigarettes to support them to quit and have a smokefree pregnancy.
Health Visitors in Torbay are working to embed recommendations from guidance produced by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities to support smokefree homes to encourage parents or carers to stop smoking and reduce smoke exposure to infants.
A range of information and guidance is made available on Torbay Healthy Learning to help teachers inform students about the risks of smoking and vaping to deter them from taking it up.
Your Health Torbay
Public Health has commissioned behavioural change services working alongside our communities.
One of these services is Your Health Torbay through ABL Health Ltd, a service providing support to Torbay residents to stop smoking, lose weight, to move more and to eat more healthy foods. Your Health Torbay works with and in local communities to understand what matters to them in their unique conditions. circumstances to offer a tailored and flexible service.
Your Health Torbay is available to all adult residents in Torbay. It also works to support people who experience health inequalities associated with higher rates of smoking, overweight and obesity. In Torbay these are people who are pregnant, people working in routine and manual occupations, people living in areas of deprivation, people with a learning disability, and people with mental health.
