A BELOVED grandfather would not have survived if the ambulance crew had responded quicker to his fall, an inquest heard.

James Walker lived alone with his dog on Rowan Drive, Woodley, but developed pneumonia after tripping on a plastic matt in his kitchen on June 5.

It was more than six hours before the 93-year-old man was found by his family, who phoned for an ambulance three times before first responders and paramedics arrived.

He was deemed to be a 'high risk' patient, but appeared to recover after he was admitted for surgery at Royal Berkshire Hospital, but he died from the infection on June 8.

Dr Apu Chatterjee, a specialist physician from the hospital, said his pneumonia was caused by laying on a cold kitchen floor for a number of hours.

He said this would have caused the airflow to be significantly reduced and would have contributed in some way towards his deterioration.

His daughter Carole Freeman said he continued to live alone after his wife died in 2014 and got by with the help of his children.

She told the inquest at Reading Town Hall on Tuesday: "At the time we were angry about the amount of time the ambulance took to arrive and the fact that we had to call three times.

"Obviously as a family we feel guilty that he was on the floor and on his own for six hours.

"We did not want to move him because we know that can be the worst thing to do when someone has had a fall."

Mr Walker suffered a fracture to his left femur as a result of the fall and had previously been struggling with an enlarged heart and chronic kidney disease.

Ian Wade QC, assistant coroner for Berkshire supported the decision of South Central Ambulance Service and ruled his death as accidental.

He added: "James' body could not cope with the insult of a fall at his age.

"Ambulance staff followed a protocol when they responded to the incident and I am confident the infection was brought on in the first six hours."