Hospitals and the community must be prepared for the winter and its associated vomiting bug as the cold season takes its grip, Poole Hospital’s boss has warned.

Norovirus typically brings on projectile vomiting and watery diarrhoea – with headaches and stomach cramps also common symptoms. The virus, which is most prevalent during the winter months, is spread through contact with an infected person or with contaminated surfaces or objects, or by consuming contaminated food or water.

There is no treatment, and although most people will recover within a few days if they stay well hydrated, it can cause serious health complications for patients already ill in hospital.

Poole Hospital’s chief executive, Debbie Fleming, said the trust’s infection control team was prepared and would be working hard to contain any possible outbreak.

“We have to watch out for the norovirus because it is not just about hospitals – it is about large groups of people together at one time,” she added.

“It is a thing of the community and what is really important is we within the hospital have to have brilliant control procedures.

“Good communication with Public Health England and other organisations is also important so we know there is an outbreak and we can be alert.”

Ms Fleming said the hospital had consistently raised the bar with regard to infection control during the last decade, but was eager to guard against complacency and maintain the high standards, with a general rise in admissions expected during the winter.

She added: “The whole thing about winter is that we are extremely busy and this year, as with every year, we have a plan in place.

“What happened for us is that this spring and summer we were way out of kilter for the plan – at one point we were 15 per cent up on what we were expecting on emergency admissions, but as the year has gone on those figures have flattened a bit.

“Going into the winter we expect it to be busier and we plan to have more beds open.

“We put a lot of plans in place and have received additional resources for that and we are expecting to manage winter well.”