Wednesday, 29 January 2020 Administrators KordaMentha’s contract to overhaul SA Health’s biggest department will be extended by a further year. The company was brought in to restructure the Central Adelaide Local Health Network – operating hospitals including the Royal Adelaide and Queen Elizabeth – as its annual budget blowout spiralled towards $300 million. The company that oversaw the Whyalla steelworks rescue was appointed in November 2018 to turn around CALHN by 2021 and save $276 million in three years. Announcing the initial one-year, $18 million contract, Health Minister Stephen Wade said it would “launch a responsible road-map back to stability and excellence”. The $20.8 million contract will run until February 9, 2021, and includes a six-month extension option, increasing the total contract to $45.78 million. Mr Wade said KordaMentha had recovered $57 million of taxpayers’ money and streamlined processes to deliver better patient care. “The initiatives saving money are delivering better patient outcomes,” he said. “Wasting taxpayers’ money means less services and more patients waiting to get care.” Labor criticised the use of the administrators, saying they had presided over worsening ambulance ramping. Opposition health spokesman Chris Picton said yesterday: “The Liberals’ priority is millions of dollars to corporate liquidators running hospitals while they are cutting doctors and nurses.” This article was originally written by Brad Crouch for The Advertiser. Licensed by Copyright Agency. You must not copy this work without permission.