Adequacy of the ophthalmology workforce under Ontario's Local Health Integration Networks.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the current distribution of ophthalmologists across Ontario's Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) and the influence on LHIN-specific cataract surgery wait times.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study.


METHODS
Ophthalmologists listed in the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSO) database and the Canadian population.


METHODS
A list of ophthalmologists and their practice locations were obtained from the CPSO website. The total population count for Ontario was obtained from the Statistics Canada census. The population counts for the population aged 65 years and older were generated using the Canadian Socioeconomic Information Management System (CANSIM) table 109-5425. Cataract surgery wait times were obtained from the Ontario Ministry of Health. Statistical analysis was completed using Microsoft Excel using StatPlus software.


RESULTS
There are currently 3.28 ophthalmologists per 100 000 total population in Ontario. LHIN-specific ratios ranged from 8.87 (Toronto Central) to 1.67 (Central West), with 3 out of 14 LHINs having met the previously recommended ratio of 3.37. Median cataract surgery wait times ranged from 30 to 72 days. Although the number of cataract surgeries performed was positively correlated with the population aged 65 years and older (p < 0.001), there was no statistically significant association between wait times and number of cataract cases per 1000 population (p = 0.41).


CONCLUSIONS
Although Ontario appears to have a sufficient number of ophthalmologists overall, there is significant variation in the distribution of the ophthalmology workforce at the LHIN level. This variation did not appear to significantly influence LHIN-specific cataract surgery wait times.
Department of Ophthalmology, Western University, London, Ont;. Electronic address: tlin62@uwo.ca.
Tony
T
Lin
Department of Ophthalmology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.
Mark
M
Xu
Department of Ophthalmology, Western University, London, Ont;
Philip L
PL
Hooper
D000368:Aged; D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005544:Forecasting; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006302:Health Services Research; D006280:Health Workforce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009864:Ontario; D009885:Ophthalmology; D014850:Waiting Lists