'A tonne of sleepless nights': LHSC interim CEO announces dozens of cuts to executive ranks

London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) announced Thursday it has cut dozens of top administration positions, reducing the payroll by millions of dollars.

A total of 59 high-ranking executives have departed the hospital, and 71 have been reassigned to lower paid positions, said interim CEO David Musyj.

“This is not easy on anybody. If you were to have one part of your job that truly sucks, this is it. It’s not good. There’s people at the end of the day here that are being impacted by this, and that’s terrible. It’s not a good feeling. A tonne of sleepless nights,” said Musyj.

The restructuring represents a 14 per cent reduction in the leadership structure at LHSC, and results in a cut of $14 million from the executive payroll, said Musyj.

And While Musyj said the cuts would not affect the quality of patient care, he did caution that cuts to frontline healthcare staff are not off the table, as a review of programming gets underway.

“That could possibly happen. I’m not ruling out anything right now. What I’m saying is I don’t want it to be assumed that’s where we’re going. But again, we’re not going to pre-judge that,” said Musyj.

The spending review, which took 90 days, comes as the hospital stares down a projected $150 million deficit for next year. Two years ago, the provincial government issued the hospital a budget waiver, allowing it five years to balance the books

“So we have a little bit of rope to work with, but not a lot,” said Musyj.

Musyj was seconded from Windsor Regional Hospital earlier this year, temporarily taking over from CEO Jackie Schleifer Taylor. This past June, the hospital announced she was no longer employed at LHSC. Her departure left the LHSC Board of Directors to take heat for allowing executive leadership ranks to swell under her leadership. Musyj said that won’t happen again under new protocols.

“We will also be ensuring future CEOs cannot change this new organizational structure without awareness and support from the Board of Directors and physician leadership,” he stated.

Musyj did announce one new hire. Nick Vlacholias, current president at Brockville General Hospital, will be brought on at LHSC in November as Chief Financial Officer and VP of Facilities.