In Focus: Blame game in Canada

Optometrists in Ontario are poised to withdraw care from thousands of elderly and child patients from September 1 despite the offer of a $39m one-off payment from the Canadian province’s Ministry of Health.

Direct action in the dispute began last year (Optician 19.08.20), when the Ontario Association of Optometrists (OAO) urged its 1,800 members to turn away patients coming for appointments outside of regular check-ups and refer them to hospitals and A&E departments instead. The OAO said decades of underfunding had left optometrists covering exams within the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) out of their own pockets. In March 2021, 96% of optometrists in Ontario voted to withdraw OHIP services from September 1, 2021, unless the government agreed to legally-binding negotiations to fund the services at least to the cost of delivery.