Substance Use, End-of-Life Care and Multiple Deprivation

Gary Witham is a Senior Lecturer in Nursing at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. His research interests are exploring marginalised populations' experiences and access to palliative and end-of-life care services. Specifically, he has co-investigated the experiences of people using substances at the end of life, their carers and family as well as health and social care professionals. He has also worked on projects exploring the implementation of good practice models of care related to support people using substances at the end of life. Sarah Galvani is Professor of Substance Use and Social Research at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Sarah is a social worker by profession, having started out working as a volunteer in the UK and USA with homeless people with mental ill health and/or people who use alcohol or other drugs. As an academic, she currently leads work on end-of-life and palliative care for people using substances and focusses on substance-related research among marginalised populations. Sam Wright joined Professor Sarah Galvani and a multi-disciplinary team at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2016 to work on a large exploratory study focussing on end-of-life care for people with alcohol and other drug problems. Her main focus has been interviewing people approaching the end of life, their family caregivers and the health practitioners working with them. More recently she has been helping to develop a new model of end-of-life care for people using substances in Liverpool and Sefton (UK) and also evaluating effective ways of supporting people who are street homeless. Gemma A. Yarwood is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Sociology, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. A key focus of Gemma’s research is end-of-life care and substance use. Her research informs the core curriculum of the top 10 rated MA/MSc/BA/BSc Criminology and Sociology degrees which she delivers at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has written for many publications, including journal articles, website content, book chapters, reports for various organisations and national charities.

1.Introduction. Part I: Different voices (Introduction by Gary Witham). 2.Death is not an abstract now: approaching end of life as someone using substances. 3.Views from the coalface: social and health care professionals working with people using substances at, or near, the end of their lives. 4.Seeing the common ground: family and practitioner caregivers’ perspectives of palliative care for people using substances. Part II: Health inequalities (Introduction by Sam Wright). 5.Health literacy and substance use within palliative and end-of-life care. 6.Learning disabilities and substance use at the end of life: listening to the unheard. 7.Improving end-of-life care for people with co-existing mental health and substance use. 8.Ageing (dis)gracefully: People who inject drugs living with hepatitis C and the provision of end-of-life care. Part III: Social inequalities (Introduction by Sarah Galvani). 9.Homelessness and substance use within palliative and end-of-life care. 10 – Jane’s journey: substance use, palliative care and sex work. 11.Reflecting on the challenges and inequalities facing Black and minoritized communities in accessing substance use services, palliative and end-of-life care. 12.Unequal in life and death: substance use, disadvantage and end-of-life care in prison. 13.Reflections and recommendations: multiple disadvantage, substance use and end-of-life care.