hospital on a medical mission.

The wind caused the door of a shed to fly open and hit Bill Wait who was walking from daycare to the Charles Robertson Cottages where he lives.

Mr Wait needed stitches in his head – but his family said he had to wait three hours to see a doctor and then was unable to be admitted for observation because no beds were available.

Off-the-record sources have disputed the claims, but the family stands by its comments.

The accident happened on hospital grounds.

Country Health SA released figures that the hospital had an occupancy rate of 77 percent in June with an average occupancy rate of 80 percent.

According to Mr Wait and his family, this was not the case when he was denied overnight care after being hurt.

Country Health SA Chief executive

officer George Beltchev said during the weekend of the incident, the hospital did experience full occupancy for a short time, but not during the time when Mr Wait was there.

“At the time the gentleman was presented to the hospital beds were available,” he said.

Mr Wait was standing next to the shed on hospital grounds watching the helicopter coming in to land on the helipad when the pressure from the rotors caused the steel door to fly open and knock him down.

Despite the delay described by the family in seeing a doctor, Mr Wait said he received “great service from nurses and staff”.

“As far as I am concerned I am not blaming anyone,” he said. “That doctor is doing the work of three. The staff have done a marvellous job.”

He said the helicopter was flying in from a different direction than he has usually seen. Mr Wait had injuries to his head, both elbows and right hand.

His daughter, Dianne Wait-Kennedy said that before her father saw the doctor, nurses were trying to clean up his wounds.

She said hospital staff told her they “would have liked” to have kept him in overnight “because of his age and the head injury”.