London Health Sciences Centre is taking steps to combat fraud after launching several civil lawsuits involving alleged procurement irregularities earlier this year, its boss says.

In a community update meeting – LHSC’s first since  a break during the summer – on Wednesday, LHSC supervisor David Musyj addressed the pending civil lawsuits concerning alleged “past fraudulent activity” spanning more than a decade, and outlined measures implemented to prevent future instances.

At the virtual meeting, Musyj acknowledged it is unrealistic to eliminate the possibility of fraud entirely but said LHSC is taking “specific actions” to reduce the chances of it happening again.

“Over the past year, LHSC has taken significant steps to strengthen governance, oversight and accountability across the organization,” he said. “We are committed to building a culture rooted in transparency, responsibility and continuous improvement.”

Key actions highlighted by Musyj to counteract fraud at LHSC include enhanced auditing and oversight, policy and process improvements, a vendor compliance program, leadership and governance renewal and whistleblower protection.

“We’ve also overhauled our financial and procurement policies to ensure stronger controls and greater accountability,” Musyj said. “Clear standards and processes are now in place to guide decision-making.”

LHSC has developed and implemented a multi-year internal audit plan supported by an internal audit team, while also contracting accounting firm KPMG for external expertise.

Following the meeting, Musyj said the cost to contract KPMG – which he says is doing similar work with multiple hospitals across the province – is in the “middle six figures annually,” noting it has been “well worth the investment.”

In July, LHSC initiated two civil lawsuits, one for $50 million and another for $10 million, against former hospital executives, businesses and other parties.

The $50 million lawsuit alleges Dipesh Patel, the former vice-president of facilities management at LHSC, worked with others to defraud the hospital by awarding construction and facilities management contracts to several companies. The $10 million lawsuit, which includes former chief executive Jackie Schleifer, alleges hospital executives failed to act after learning of the procurement frauds.

A third statement of claim – a $40 million civil lawsuit – was filed last month, which Musyj mentioned on Wednesday.

“It is against several vendors and individuals for negligence in a large-scale project to replace windows at University Hospital,” Musyj said, noting it was one of the projects identified in an earlier statement of claim.

Investigations into the “full extent of the deficiencies is unknown” and issues pertaining to the quality of the window installation have been identified, Musyj said. However, LHSC hasn’t “experienced any safety issues” related to the windows, “external experts” continue to assess them and any safety concerns would be “addressed immediately,” he added.

“These statements of claim reflect our commitment to ensuring those involved in past procurement practices are held accountable, and to strengthening our oversight and governance in operations, in policies and procedures and financial practices,” Musyj said.

He added that as LHSC pursues civil cases and continues its forensic audit, it will share findings with London police, which is conducting a parallel investigation.

bwilliams@postmedia.com

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