London hospital board fires trip-taking CEO

London Health Sciences Centre's board of directors turfed chief executive Paul Woods days after revealing he had travelled abroad five times during the pandemic.

In a statement Monday, the board said it knew about Woods' family in the U.S. and his green card status but “had no advance notice of and did not approve his travel outside Canada.”

On Friday, LHSC released a statement saying the board was aware of his travel and supported him staying in the role.

“The board's responsibility is to act in the best interests of LHSC and the communities it serves and this decision responds to hospital and community concerns about recent news of Dr. Woods' travel outside Canada during the pandemic,” the board said in a statement Monday.

“It has become clear that this situation has affected the confidence of staff, physicians and the community in Dr. Woods' leadership.”

LHSC said Monday there is no process for the board of a public hospital to approve a chief executive officer's personal travel.

Woods' termination is effective immediately. He has served three years of a five-year contract at LHSC and, per the most recent salary disclosure, made $605,000 annually in salary and benefits. In a statement, the board thanked Woods for his service and said a new interim president and chief executive would be announced. Woods, who came to LHSC in 2018 after working as a health-care executive in Michigan, lives alone in London and made five cross-border trips to see family since March, the hospital said.

The news sparked intense outrage from unions representing LHSC workers and others in the local health-care field. At one point this fall, Woods issued a memo to staff, chiding them for not following guidelines to slow COVID-19'S spread.