Catering Assistant

NHS; King's Lynn; On-site; GBP 18,000 - 22,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization in King's Lynn is looking for a Catering Assistant to join the Catering Team. This role involves food preparation, delivery, and serving meals to patients, staff, and visitors. Candidates should have good reading and writing skills and be able to manage their time effectively within a team environment. No formal qualifications are required. The position offers a chance to be part of a rewarding service, providing catering to a large number of people daily.

Qualifications

• No formal qualifications necessary but must have good reading and writing skills.
• Desire and ability to develop new skills.

Responsibilities

• Assist in food preparation and delivery.
• Manage time and resources effectively.
• Work within a team to deliver quality service.

Skills

Good interpersonal skills

Ability to work in a team

Good organisational skills

Ability to work to deadlines

Education

Basic Food Hygiene Certificate

Job description

Catering Assistant

The closing date is 09 December 2025

We have an exciting opportunity for Catering Assistants and Kitchen Porters to join team QEH.

As part of the Catering Team you will be assisting in all aspects of food preparation, delivery, service, wash‑up cleaning duties, till work customer service relating to the provision of catering services to Patients, Staff, Visitors.

You will have previous experience managing your own time and resources and experience of working within a team. No formal qualifications are required for this position however you must have good reading and writing skills. These positions will require staff to work at various times throughout the day as the department is open from 6am through to 3am.

Main duties of the job

An opportunity has arisen to join the Catering Team within The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The Catering Department caters for 1,500 main meals daily providing a service to patients, staff and visitors. Patients enjoy a choice from individual menus, which are then served by trained staff in the Catering Department using the belt system, which enables the complete meal to be arranged on individual trays. Where appetites vary considerably, as on wards for the elderly and children's units, meals are served on the ward according to their individual needs. Staff enjoy a similarly wide choice and select their meals in The Hub Dining Room.

You will be working within the Catering Dept. where you may work in the Main Kitchen, The Hub your workload will include emptying and cleaning the food trolleys, cleaning the kitchen, taking in deliverers from the loading bay and transporting them to the main kitchen, transporting meal trolleys to and from the wards and answering the telephone to take orders from the wards. You will also be required to work in the central dishwasher, pot wash area and cleaning equipment of the main kitchen and to serve meals for patients in the main kitchen.

You will be required to work as part of a team to deliver a quality service as directed by policies and procedures which are monitored by Supervisory Staff. Catering Assistants and Kitchen Porters will work closely between the Kitchen, Dining Room and Wards.

About us

There's never been a more exciting time to join TeamQEH. We're working on a once in a generation opportunity to build a new state‑of‑the‑art hospital to open and we are also carrying out on one of the biggest pieces of digital transformation work we've ever undertaken. Our new electronic patient record (EPR) will replace paper‑based patient records from 2026 and will lead to better, safer, joined‑up care at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and beyond.

At The QEH we provide a comprehensive range of specialist, acute, obstetrics and community‑based services to around 331,000 people across west and north Norfolk, North Cambs and South Lincs. We are an ambitious organisation that upholds our values of kindness, wellness and fairness. We strive for continuous quality improvement, recently demonstrated in our 2024 CQC maternity inspection rating our services as 'Good', and we are proud to be a place to learn and grow through recognised learning and apprenticeships.

We recognise and reward our 4,000 staff and volunteers, priding ourselves on a community atmosphere and positive team spirit. We have approx. 530 beds across 33 wards and have newly built education and training facilities, a range of modern award‑winning centres alongside a talented team of people ready to give you a warm welcome.

We love working here and think you will too.

Job responsibilities

For further details about this vacancy, please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification.

Person Specification

Education

• No formal qualifications necessary however must have good reading and writing skills.
• Desire and ability to develop new skills.
• Basic Food Hygiene Certificate.

Experience

• Managing own time and resources.
• Experience of working as part of a team.
• Experience of working within a catering environment.

Skills/Ability/Knowledge

• Good interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work in a team.
• Good organisational skills.
• Ability to work to deadlines and remain focused when working alone.

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

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHSFT