Topeka ? The director of Kansas psychiatric hospital has resigned, leaving a facility hurt by staff shortages without a superintendent.

Angela de Rocha, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, says superintendent Tom Kinlen is no longer with Larned State Hospital.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the department’s commissioner of behavioral health services, Bill Rein, will serve as acting superintendent until the position is filled.

Rein and secretary of the department, Tim Keck, testified before legislators in January, facing questions about state hospital staffing shortages.

“I’ve given (human resources) a directive or request to get the staffing information that we need. And hopefully, within a week after that we will have a better understanding of what our (needs) are, or are not,” Keck told lawmakers.

Keck said staffing issues are caused by several factors, including low employment, pay and respect shown toward employees.

“I think it’s a combination of all the things I’ve talked about, probably some things I haven’t come to understand just yet but hope to very soon. That’s why I think we are making reasonably good efforts to try to meet with staff and hear from them,” Keck said.

Kinlen took over as director of the hospital in 2012 after staffing issues forced out superintendent Chris Burke.