Catering Assistant

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust; Farnham; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 24,000; Full time

Job summary

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust Farnham Hospital is seeking a Catering Assistant to support a professional, patient-focused catering service for patients, staff and visitors.

You will work as part of a team, undertake food service, preparation tasks and ensure hygiene and portion control, with training provided. The role suits people who enjoy a busy environment and high standards of customer care.

Qualifications

• Good level of basic education – literacy, numeracy and comprehension skills.
• Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene or working towards it.

Responsibilities

• Serve food and drinks in patient/staff dining outlets and on the patient meal assembly belt.
• Prepare food service areas and equipment for use.
• Deliver and collect meal trolleys to/from wards and departments.
• Deliver catering supplies to wards and departments including call orders.
• Monitor portion control, quality and presentation in line with hygiene standards.

Skills

Customer service

Teamwork

Communication

Attention to detail

Busy environment

Education

GCSE or equivalent

Job description

Job OverviewIf you are you looking for an opportunity to make a difference and work in a fast paced, highly rewarding department, our Catering team at Farnham Hospital is recruiting a Catering Assistant to assist in the provision of a highly professional and customer focused catering service to all patients, staff and visitors.

The ideal candidate will be willing to work as part of team, as well as confident to carry out individual duties. You will be interacting with a high number of people each day, playing a vital part in making their visit as comfortable as possible. Due to the nature of the role, you will be required to adhere to departmental standards and food hygiene regulations. You will also act at all times in a manner that upholds the Trust’s values, working as part of a team to ensure efficiency and excellent customer care. Catering experience is desirable along with a certificate in food safety though this is not essential, as full training will be given. As part of the recruitment process you will complete a Maths and English assessment, in order to progress to interview you will need to pass this test. Please note that this role is not eligible for Skilled Worker visa sponsorship. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK for the full duration of the post.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if enough applications have been received.

Main duties of the job

• The role requires that the job holder follows the duties laid out by the Patient Service Supervisor in the day-to-day operational management of the service.
• You’ll be expected to treat visitors and staff in a welcoming, friendly and efficient manner, whilst maintaining the highest standards of cleanliness and hygiene. You’ll be working as part of a motivated team.
• On a typical day as a Catering Assistant you can expect to serve food and drinks in patient or staff dining outlets, assist in food preparation, support wards in delivering their food service, undertake cashier duties, and proactively support continued innovation and development of the department.
• The job holder will assist the Supervisor to expand and/or make recommendations for improving standards and enhancing the service to all customers. This would be through quality initiatives and by looking at ways of maximising good customer care and income generation.
• You’ll need to be aware of menu content whilst understanding the importance of portion control, food presentation and customer care. In addition, you must ensure that the privacy and dignity of visitors, staff and patients is respected at all times.

Working for our organisation

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust is committed to being an inclusive and disability confident employer and has been awarded the Gold for the Armed Forces Employment Recognition Scheme. We provide first class development opportunities for all staff and have a wide range of professional, management and leadership, and clinical skills training available.

Here at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, we know how important it is to have a healthy work life balance; this benefits not only individuals but the patients we care for too.

We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service and its users.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

Undertake all duties relating to food service including:

• Prepare food service areas and equipment e.g. placing equipment ready for use (woks, fryers etc.)
• Serve food and drinks in patient/staff dining outlets and on the patient meal assembly belt
• Ensure a full supply of crockery and cutlery to the restaurant during service hours
• Deliver and collect meal trolleys to/from wards and departments
• Deliver catering supplies to wards and departments including call orders
• Menu collation, picking of all ward food according to menu choice and record information

Undertake Preparation Of All Food Stuffs

• Assist in food preparation e.g. peeling vegetables, prepping salad items, traying up and labelling items
• Assessment of good portion control, manage food waste and appropriate record keeping
• Decant chilled food
• Regeneration of food and garnishing
• Adhere strictly to standard recipes and production methods, check food and beverages served, for quantity, quality and appearance and maintain correct standards of hygiene and temperature control as per HACCP

For more information please see attached job description and person specification

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Good level of basic education – able to demonstrate literacy, numeracy, and comprehension skills.
• Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene or working towards it.

Desirable criteria

• Health and Safety, COSHH and Moving and Handling and Food/Kitchen hygiene training.

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working in a Kitchen/Restaurant environment.

Desirable criteria

• Customer care experience.
• Experience of working in a service led and customer focused environment.

Skills

Essential criteria

• Good communication skills – able to read and understand written and verbal communication and instruction.
• Ability to work in a very busy environment.
• Customer focussed.
• Able to plan and prioritise time and workload.
• Ability to work as part of a team and independently.
• Ability to respond quickly to problems.

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust (FHFT) is proud of its strong reputation, record of achievement and ambition for the future. We serve a population of over 900,000 people across Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and South Buckinghamshire, and remain committed to improving the health and wellbeing of our communities.

Our new organisational strategy – FHFT 2030 – sets out our ambition to be the best place to receive care and the best place to work in the NHS. Underpinned by our Trust values – Committed to Excellence, Working Together, Facing the Future, and being a modern, compassionate, Healthcare Organisation – we are creating a culture where our people can thrive and patients always come first.

We continue to invest heavily in our services and facilities. This includes the development of a new hospital at Frimley Park, major expansion of diagnostics and inpatient capacity, and the continued transformation of services across our sites. We have already delivered a brand-new £100m state-of-the-art Heatherwood Hospital, a £49m Emergency Assessment Centre at Wexham Park, and a £10m upgrade to maternity services.

We are also committed to sustainability and the NHS Net Zero ambition. Our new hospital and estate developments are being designed to be environmentally responsible, energy efficient, and future-proofed, featuring on-site renewables energy and intelligent energy systems. Through our green plan, we are embedding sustainable practices across all areas of care and operations, ensuring we reduce our environmental impact while improving population health and wellbeing. Our staff are key to helps us deliver on our ambition and to ensure sustainability is a core component of care delivery and our operations.

Alongside estates’ investments, we are embedding a strong focus on digital innovation and quality improvement. Our electronic patient record (Epic), launched in 2024, is already enabling safer, more connected, and more effective care for patients, while giving staff the tools they need to do their best work. Our electronic patient record also supports safe and effective digitised care pathways, savings time and carbon, whilst delivering excellent quality of care.

Everything we do is guided by our values, shaping how we care for patients, support colleagues, and build a sustainable future for healthcare together.