Simon Jones: Blame Canada

On September 1, some 2,500 optometrists in the province of Ontario withdrew part government-funded eye care service provision for children under 18 and adults over the age of 65 in a long-running dispute over levels of reimbursement (In Focus: https://www.opticianonline.net/features/in-focus-b...).

When compared to the drawn out, seemingly apathetic back and forth debates between the usual protagonists over the level of GOS reimbursement in the home nations, what has been going on in Ontario seems positively revolutionary. Maybe optometrists over here could look at what has gone on and count themselves rather fortunate.

There is plenty to applaud the Ontario Association of Optometrists (OAO) for – it hasn’t caved to the offer of a paltry 8% increase from the government and when the chips have been down, the association has genuinely gone into bat for its members.