The NHS must take diseases like pneumonia and flu in older people much more seriously, England’s chief medical officer has warned.

Sir Chris Whitty said some doctors do not appreciate that an infection can significantly increase the risk of a stroke or heart attack.

His comments come as the number of flu patients in hospital in England has reached a record high as the nation faces an unprecedented flu season.

NHS data shows that adults over 70 are much more likely to catch and go on to become severely ill or die from an infection.

While the health system was “extremely good” at preventing illness in young people, the situation in older adults is a “a lot more hit and miss”, Sir Chris said.

England’s most senior doctor, best known for his appearances on the podium in the Covid pandemic, was speaking at the launch of his annual report on health.

He said older people were often “underserved” when it came to both NHS care and medical research, adding that there should be a lower threshold for prescribing antibiotics than for younger adults.

He suggested that the medical community had been fatalistic about elderly infections in the past, adding that “people have assumed it’s just one of those things that happen in old age – in fact, we can do a lot about it”.

The chief medical officer said there was now “clear evidence” that illnesses such as pneumonia, influenza or a urinary tract infection can increase the risk of a stroke “particularly in the first two weeks, but it can extend out to as long as a year afterwards”.

Research also suggests that elderly patients are more likely to have a heart attack following an infection – although it is less conclusive.

“What’s the importance of all that? Well, if we could reduce the infections, we would reduce strokes and heart attacks,” he added.

He said the public could do more to protect against winter bugs through “common sense” measures such as washing hands, taking care when preparing food, staying at home when ill, and accepting the free vaccines offered on the NHS.

Prof Whitty also warned that although the UK had some of the highest take-up of childhood vaccines in the world, rates had been “drifting down” over the last decade.

The drop had been particularly pronounced in London with rates in other parts of England either flatlining or showing a more gradual decline.

“Some of the people who are keen to spread disinformation like to give the impression that the UK is becoming a vaccine-sceptical nation,” he said. “That is absolutely not true.”

He suggested that the downward trend was mainly due to access to vaccines and the practicalities of making appointments, rather than “any major change in people’s desire to get vaccinated.”

Asked about the situation in the US, where the health secretary Robert Kennedy Jr has repeatedly raised concerns about vaccine safety, he said it was “perfectly legitimate” for people to ask questions about the jabs.

But he said there was a risk that some people in the UK would look at what was happening in other countries and think “If they are worried, then shouldn’t we be worried?”.

“I think the general population are actually very sensible on this, provided we are straight with them about the risks and benefits and they understand the issues,” he said.

“The number of people in the UK who are really anti vaccine in the classic sense, is very small,” he added.