Yes that is right. Most of the admin work is done by health managers who could be from just about any background. For example, in one of our major rehab centres in a large DHB the manager is from a nursing background but her role is the overall mangement of both rehab wards. The job is purely administrative. Clinicians are employed to provide clinical services not administrate. Sometimes a clinician might hold a managerial job but be expected to carry a caseload but this is all defined in their job description - eg a 50%/50% split between responsibilities.


Certainly Drs don't prescribe physiotherapy - they refer for assessment and management. And as Drs have the fattest salary packages the DHB is unlikely to give them a managerial job - costs to much. That is not to say that at the higher management level Drs are not present

NZ isn't unique in this. Australia would operate somewhat similarly.