The outgoing head of SA Health says cultural change is needed in South Australia’s health system.

South Australia’s former Labor government brought Vickie Kaminski in from Canada to help enact planned health reforms, and eventually made her CEO of the department.

After a recent meeting with new Premier Steven Marshall, Ms Kaminski said she was no longer wanted.

“The Premier wants new leadership at SA Health in the top job,” Ms Kaminski said.

“It's tough to go from being the boss, being stepped back — tough for the new boss, tough for the old boss, tough for the staff — so I think the best option is to see that transition through and head back to Canada.”

She said the new Government faces a tough task in making the system more efficient.

“If you look at our cost per head for South Australia, we are one of the most expensive systems in the country,” she said.

“So there's a lot of work we can be doing on improving our benchmarking, improving our rating, getting closer to the national efficient price.”

Ms Kaminski is the fifth senior public servant to leave in the wake of the Liberal Government’s election, following four sacked last week.

She will be followed by a sixth - Department of Premier and Cabinet executive director Rik Morris, who took leave from his role to run as the Labor candidate in Florey.