On level nine of one of the older blocks at Wellington Hospital, plastic patients lie in the beds, and one room is taken up by half a plane.

This is the simulation and skills centre, and it’s designed to give medical staff hands-on experience with all kinds of scenarios - from operating theatre to air transfer, complete with turbulence.

Life Flight runs the planes, and they’re staffed by ICU doctors, tasked with bringing patients from other centres into Wellington to access treatments not available at the hospital in their own region.