Ontario's fiscal watchdog says the province is expected to be short 33,000 nurses and personal support workers in five years.
The Financial Accountability Office says in a special health-care report that the government will be short $21 billion to cover its commitments to expand hospitals, long-term care and home care.
The province's health-care system has buckled in recent years with severe staffing shortages that have led to temporary emergency room closures, a massive surgical backlog and fed-up patients.
The financial watchdog says the province could address the funding shortfall by incrementally spending more in upcoming budgets and a boost from Ontario's ballooning contingency fund.
A spokeswoman for Health Minister Sylvia Jones says the province is investing heavily in health care, has reduced wait times for key surgeries and ``broke records'' by registering more new nurses in 2022.
Hannah Jensen says they will use money from the pending health-care deal with the federal government to hire more nurses and sign up more people with family doctors.