Catering Assistant

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; England; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 24,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization is seeking a Catering Assistant to join its Catering Department in Southport Hospital. The ideal candidate will possess strong customer care skills and have experience in a busy kitchen. Responsibilities include providing a customer-focused service and ensuring compliance with food safety standards. Hours available are 25 hours per week, Monday to Friday. A Food Safety Level 2 certificate and a flexible attitude are preferred. Join a dedicated team committed to high-quality service.

Qualifications

• Experience working in a busy kitchen environment.
• Good customer care skills required.
• Food Safety Level 2 certificate an advantage.

Responsibilities

• Provide a customer focused service.
• Organise and improve catering service.
• Ensure compliance with food safety management.

Skills

Customer Care Skills

Ability to work under pressure

Communication

Cash handling abilities

Education

Food Safety Level 2

Basic Numeracy

HACCP Training

Job description

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Catering Assistant

The closing date is 11 January 2026

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Catering Assistant to join our Catering Department at Southport Hospital

The ideal candidate will have a "Can do attitude" flexible and will be a team player who has experience working in a busy kitchen environment and Retail.

The ideal candidate should have good customer care skills and experience of working in a kitchen/coffee shop/restaurant.

Food Safety Level 2 certificate an advantage.

Hours Available are -

25 hours Monday - Friday to meet service needs.

Main duties of the job

• To provide a customer focused service
• To organise, deliver, develop and improve catering service throughout the Trust
• Ensure efficient management of all catering services
• Ensure compliance with all legislation relating to risk management and security
• Ensure compliance with all legislation relating to food safety management
• Basic preparation of food items, service to patient and other meals and functions
• Assist with cooking and regeneration of food as appropriate
• Cleaning of structures, equipment and meal service components as specialised in work instructions
• Store keeping including, checking deliveries, storage and stock rotation
• At times to operate without the direct guidance of a team leader
• Ensure a secure working environment for patients, visitors and staff
• Promote and maintain point of sale, e.g counter and vending machines
• Undertake all aspects of the Cash handling process

About us

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our Services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Job responsibilities

KEY DUTIES

• Maintain all operational procedures
• Enforce compliance with Waste Management Policy to meet the changing requirements as segregation requirements increase
• To comply with Hygiene and Food Safety Legislation
• Ensure compliance with Facilities Management standards
• Ensure compliance with HACCP
• Ensure effective delivery of services to service users and customers
• Maintain and improve all aspects of the service
• Participate in staff involvement groups for all aspects of the Trust Quality Strategy 2012/15
• Observe legal requirements
• Responsible for the safe use of all equipment
• Ensure compliance and operational observance of safe working practices as detailed in all aspects of risk management
• Ensure all appropriate hygiene monitoring is carried out and recorded for every process
• Ensure compliance with national standards of cleanliness

TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES

• To attend training courses as required and participate in annual refresher sessions in accordance with own Personal Development Review

LINE MANAGEMENT/SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide guidance and a knowledge base for new and existing staff

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• To ensure economical use of all Trust resources
• Maintain and monitor stock levels to meet the demands of the service
• Distribute and maintain economic and effective use of chemicals and products
• Monitor and record food wastage

Person Specification

Our Values

• We are Kind
• We are Open
• We are Inclusive

Qualifications

• Food Safety Level 2
• Basic Numeracy
• Basic Computer Skills
• ECDL or equivalent
• HACCP Training

Knowledge and Experience

• NHS Experience

Skills

• Customer Care Skills
• Ability to work under pressure
• Provision of a patient/customer focussed service
• Principles of Risk Management
• Communication
• Ability to instruct other less qualified staff or students
• Cash handling abilities/use of cash registers

Other

• Physically demanding role
• Pushing and pulling trolleys/cages
• Varied deadlines and adhoc pressures
• Dealing with staff/customer issues
• Exposure to temperature variations
• Professional and hygiene awareness/appearance
• Varied shifts

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer name

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust