Catering Assistant | Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust; Frimley; On-site; GBP 18,000 - 22,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in Frimley is seeking a Catering Assistant to deliver exceptional food service to patients, staff, and visitors. You will prepare food, serve meals, and ensure cleanliness while upholding high standards of hygiene. Strong communication and customer service skills are essential. This role offers full training for candidates without prior catering experience.

Qualifications

• Desirable prior catering experience.
• Knowledge of food hygiene standards.
• Ability to pass Maths and English assessment.

Responsibilities

• Prepare food service areas and equipment.
• Serve food and drinks to patients and staff.
• Manage food preparation and portion control.
• Operate cash registers and handle payments.

Skills

Catering experience

Customer service

Food hygiene knowledge

Education

Certificate in food safety

Job description

Overview

If you are you 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.

Hours: five days out of seven, 37.5 hours per week from 7.30am–3.30pm, or four days per week, 20 hours per week from 5.00pm–9.00pm. You will be required to adhere to departmental standards and food hygiene regulations, and 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. To progress to interview you will need to pass this test. Sponsorship is not available for this role.

The role requires following 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 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, through quality initiatives and by looking at ways of maximizing good customer care and income generation. You’ll need to be aware of menu content while understanding the importance of portion control, food presentation and customer care, and you must ensure the privacy and dignity of visitors, staff and patients is respected at all times.

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust provides NHS hospital services for around 900,000 people across Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and south Buckinghamshire. We provide general hospital services as well as specialist services across a wider area. We have three main hospitals – Frimley Park, Heatherwood and Wexham Park. Our three core values are Committed to Excellence, Working Together and Facing the Future, guiding how we treat patients, visitors, service users and each other. We also host the Defence Medical Group South East at Frimley Park with military personnel working alongside NHS staff to provide care across all specialties.

Responsibilities

• Undertake all duties relating to food service including: preparing food service areas and equipment, serving food and drinks, ensuring a full supply of crockery and cutlery, delivering and collecting meal trolleys to/from wards and departments, delivering catering supplies, and menu collation with ward food picking according to menu choice.
• Undertake preparation of all foodstuffs: assisting in food preparation (peeling vegetables, prepping salad items, traying up and labeling), assessing portion sizes, managing food waste and record keeping, decanting chilled food, regenerating food, garnishing, and adhering strictly to standard recipes and production methods with hygiene and temperature control per HACCP guidelines.
• Operate cash registers in retail areas, including cash handling, processing receipts, balancing takings, and ensuring cash security; comply with procedures for cash handling and security; handle patient or retail customer refunds or replacements to ensure immediate satisfaction, escalating to supervisor or manager as required.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Catering experience is desirable; a certificate in food safety is beneficial but not essential as full training will be provided.
• Maths and English assessment as part of the recruitment process; ability to pass the test is required to progress to interview.
• Sponsorship is not available for this role.

For more information about the employer, see Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust’s overview above.

This advert closes on Thursday 25 Sep 2025