Catering Assistant

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust; Frimley; On-site; GBP 19,000 - 24,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS healthcare provider is seeking a Catering Assistant at Frimley Park Hospital. You will assist in delivering quality catering services to patients and staff. Candidates should possess good communication skills, a Level 2 Food Safety Certificate, and ideally have catering experience. The role involves food preparation and service while adhering to hygiene standards. Full training provided, with flexible shifts.

Qualifications

• Catering experience is desirable.
• Must undergo a Maths and English assessment.
• Ability to maintain hygiene standards.

Responsibilities

• Prepare food service areas and equipment.
• Serve food and drinks in dining outlets.
• Assist in food preparation tasks.
• Adhere to food hygiene regulations.
• Undertake cashier duties.

Skills

Good communication skills

Customer focused

Good time management skills

Education

GCSE or Equivalent

Level 2 Food Safety Certificate

Job description

Job Overview

If you are looking for an opportunity to make a difference and work in a fast paced, highly rewarding department, our Catering team at Frimley Park 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 a 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. Either working two 6 hour shifts at the weekend or in the evening. 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 sponsorship is not available for this role. 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 in the main patient service area and Pinetree's restaurant. 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 provides NHS hospital services for around 900,000 people across Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and south Buckinghamshire. As well as delivering excellent general hospital services to local people, we provide specialist heart attack, vascular, stroke, spinal, cystic fibrosis and plastic surgery services across a much wider area. We have three main hospitals - Frimley Park in Frimley near Camberley, Heatherwood in Ascot and Wexham Park near Slough. Our three core values, and the behaviours that support them, guide everything we do and set out what we expect of our staff in the way they treat patients, visitors, service users and each other: Committed to Excellence, Working Together and Facing the Future. We are also proud to host the Defence Medical Group South East at Frimley Park with military surgical, medical and nursing personnel working alongside the hospital's NHS staff providing care to patients in all specialties.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

• 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

Preparation of All Foodstuffs

• 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

Operate Cash Registers

• Undertake cashier duties including receipt and accounting of cash and vouchers, operation of cash register to give correct change, ensuring cash security, maintaining records relating to cash handling, balance cash takings with till receipts and account for differences
• Comply with all organisational and departmental procedures relating to cash handling and security
• Replace or refund patients or retail customers to ensure immediate customer satisfaction, escalating to supervisor or manager as required

Person Specification

Qualifications

• GCSE or Equivalent
• Level 2 Food Safety Certificate
• Previous catering experience

Desirable

• Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene or Good knowledge of Food safety and Kitchen hygiene
• Team player

Experience

• Basic catering experience
• Hygiene COSSH procedures

Desirable

• Experience in healthcare
• Infection prevention and control

Skills

• Good communication skills
• Customer focussed
• Good time management skills

About Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

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, including 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 helping 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.

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