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Ontario to be short 33,000 nurses and PSWs in five years: financial watchdog

The Financial Accountability Office says the government will be short $21 billion to cover its commitments to expand hospitals, long-term care and home care.

Published Mar 8, 2023 at 6:47pm

The Canadian Press
By
The Canadian Press
Ontario to be short 33,000 nurses and PSWs in five years: financial watchdog
A nurse tends to a patient in the intensive care unit at the Bluewater Health Hospital in Sarnia, Ont., on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)

TORONTO — 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.

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