The London Health Sciences Centre’s chief executive officer has been fired just days after it was revealed he travelled to the United States five times since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Board of Directors announced on Monday the termination of Dr. Paul Woods, effective immediately.
The decision follows online pressure and backlash from the community after it became public knowledge on Friday that Woods had made trips to visit immediate family in the U.S. five times since last March. The most recent trip was between December 19 and Christmas Day.
The revelation led to an online petition on change.org calling for his resignation as head of southwestern Ontario’s largest hospital network. As of Monday morning, it has received more than 6,000 signatures.
In a statement, the LHSC Board of Directors said its decision to terminate Woods’ employment was the result of concerns from the community and hospital staff.
“It has become clear that this situation has affected the confidence of staff, physicians and the community in Dr. Woods’ leadership,” the board said. “While the board was aware of Dr. Woods’ personal circumstances, it had no advance notice of and did not approve his travel outside Canada.”
According to the board, there is currently no process for a board of a public hospital to approve a chief executive officer’s personal travel.
The decision is in sharp contrast to a statement issued Friday in which the board offered its continued support of Woods, stating it believed it was in the “best interest of the system to maintain stability at the CEO level at such tumultuous times.”
Woods had been at the helm of the LHSC for the past three years. He was hired on a five year contract in 2018. Prior to that he worked for a health-care facility in Michigan.
The LHSC has said Woods lives alone and is a Canadian citizen with green card status in the U.S. Woods is said to have driven across the border, stayed in one place while stateside, and then quarantined upon his return in an effort to mitigated the risk of COVID-19 spread.
Woods apologized for the international travel on Friday.
"Hindsight will always be 20/20 and I cannot turn back the clock. What I can do is take accountability for my decision to visit with immediate family out-of-country and fully apologize. Please accept my deepest regret for my actions,” he said.
The board thanked Woods for his service in the statement issued Monday. It also reassured none of the elected members of the board have travelled outside of Canada since the pandemic began.
An interim president and chief executive officer of LHSC will be announced in the coming days.
