SA Health re-hires former deputy chief executive officer Jenny Richter to oversee the opening of the $2.3 billion new Royal Adelaide Hospital

SA Health’s decision to re-hire an executive who resigned from the department last year to assist rolling out the $2.3 billion new Royal Adelaide Hospital has been questioned by the Opposition.

Emergency Department cubicles at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital.

• New pictures: This is what we’re getting for $2.3 billion

SA Health’s decision to re-hire an executive who resigned from the department last year to assist rolling out the trouble-plagued new Royal Adelaide Hospital has been questioned by the Opposition.

SA Health’s former deputy chief executive Jenny Richter resigned from the top job last year, but is back working under the very department she quit on a short-term contract to oversee the huge move.

A Central Adelaide Local Health Network spokeswoman confirmed “Jenny Richter has temporarily joined Central Adelaide Local Health Network to provide support to staff working on the new RAH transition”.

It is not known exactly when last year Ms Richter resigned but the government confirmed she has been employed on a short term contract until the end of June.

Jenny Richter has been controversially rehired by SA Health.

CALHN did not answer specific questions from The Advertiser regarding Ms Richter’s salary or why, if she had resigned the top position, she had been re-employed by the same department.

“Bringing a wealth of experience in health planning and infrastructure, Jenny will be helping us get ready for the move to the new site,” the spokeswoman told The Advertiser.

Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade said Ms Richter was just one example of the “mass exodus (of executive staff) from the highest levels of SA Health and nRAH project team” last year.

“The fact that SA Health has needed to re-engage her less than six months later lays bare the high risk of a train wreck in SA Health,” he said.

“Ms Richter’s appointment highlights the deficit in local and corporate knowledge at the top of SA Health.”

In the past 12 months, SA Health has been heavily criticized over its revolving door of top executives who announced their departure from the under-fire department.

Last month, the then Central Adelaide Local Health Network chief executive Julia Squire was sacked just 16 months into a five-year contract for a failure to “collaborate”.

Squire, who was the head of both the Royal Adelaide and Queen Elizabeth hospitals, was scheduled to return from personal leave in January but instead, was told to leave.

Other head honchos who have either resigned or were sacked from the department include SA Health chief executive David Swan, who quit to take a job in the private sector, SA Pathology boss Ken Barr, who was sacked in 2016 over the prostate cancer test misdiagnosis scandal and Judith Carr, who resigned as project director of the nRAH.

The State Government has still not conceded an official opening date for the hospital but the project’s “technical completion” is expected within weeks.