During his evidence, the doctor said Smith may have benefited from an air ambulance transfer to Hutt Hospital. The national burns unit takes patients who have burns to 30% of their bodies. Shaw also asked Fullarton whether burn patients received suboptimal care because of the lack of a co-located burns unit and ICU. "I would say if you had to redesign the unit now, you would have the burns unit next to a major trauma centre. She said they would have liked it if he had been sent to Hutt Hospital straight away, but she couldn’t say what difference it would have made.
