When the wallet says “no”

When the wallet says “no”

In NSW the price of electricity rises by 20% this month. Wage and pension increases are at all time lows and have been for some time. However the cost of utilities, vehicle registration, insurances, pharmaceuticals, council rates and food continue to increase. People are either spending less or dipping into their diminishing pool of savings to get by. I presented a wound management program in Western Sydney last week. One of the issues we discussed as a group was the impact on well being and treatment compliance when our patients (the elderly in particular) are having to choose between whether they buy medications, wound dressings or food because something has to give in order to keep the gas or electricity on.