Catering Assistant (Retail Patient Services Northern Campus)

Transformation Unit; Sheffield; Hybrid; GBP 23,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Catering Assistant to support the Catering Team across Northern General/Royal Hallamshire sites. You will ensure nutritionally balanced meals for patients, staff and visitors, working with dietitians and culinary experts to uphold high standards of service, safety and patient experience.

The role emphasizes reliability, punctuality and teamwork within a busy hospital environment, with training and development opportunities and NHS

Qualifications

• Experience in catering/food services including health & safety, different food service systems, cash handling.
• Knowledge of allergens.
• Working in a catering organisation/operation.
• Supervision of staff.

Responsibilities

• Service Excellence: Manage food service across dining rooms and deli bars with excellent presentation and portion control.
• Logistics & Flow: Coordinate collection and delivery of insulated meal trolleys to wards and regeneration zones for timely service.
• Quality Assurance: Check meals for quantity, quality and labelling; resolve discrepancies to maintain standards.
• Food Safety & Compliance: Operate regeneration ovens; maintain records of food temperatures from delivery to service.
• Financial Accountability: Operate cash registers and manage daily banking with integrity and security.
• Operational Readiness: Prepare/set up serveries; maintain cleanliness and manage equipment/crockery clearance.

Skills

Health & Safety

Equality & Diversity

Multi-skilled Food Service

Communication skills

Teamwork

Education

GCSE English & Maths

Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate

Level 2 Health & Safety Certificate

NVQ / Apprenticeship in Catering

Job description

Employer Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Northern General Hospital Town Sheffield Salary £25,272 pa/pro rata for part time staff Salary period Yearly Closing 08/11/2026 23:59 Interview date 19/11/2026

Catering Assistant (Retail Patient Services Northern Campus)

NHS AfC: Band 2

We are committed to helping our staff balance their work and home lives and ensure they feel supported, valued and appreciated so whilst you care for our patients and clients, we’ll take care of you. We offer many different ways of helping staff including career development opportunities, flexible working, good annual leave and pension schemes , health and wellbeing packages and financial support systems. Joining the Trust also allows you access to a number of saving options via our salary sacrifice schemes and a wide range of discount opportunities with retailers and service providers.

Job overview

As a vital member of our Catering Team, you will bridge the gap between clinical excellence and hospitality. You aren’t just serving food; you are ensuring our patients, staff, and visitors receive the high-quality, nutritionally balanced sustenance essential for recovery and well-being.

Working alongside dietitians and culinary experts, you will uphold the rigorous standards of the Catering Department, ensuring every meal is delivered with precision, safety, and a focus on the customer experience.

Main duties of the job

Key Responsibilities include, but are not limited to

Service Excellence: Manage food service across dining rooms and deli bars, ensuring excellent presentation and portion control

Logistics & Flow: Coordinate the collection and delivery of insulated meal trolleys to wards and regeneration zones, ensuring timely service for patients.

Quality Assurance: Conduct rigorous checks on meal deliveries for accuracy (quantity, quality, and labelling) and resolve any discrepancies immediately to maintain service standards.

Food Safety & Compliance: Operate regeneration ovens and maintain meticulous records of food temperatures—from delivery to service—ensuring 100% compliance with food hygiene regulations.

Financial Accountability: Operate cash registers and manage daily banking/cashing-up procedures with a high level of integrity and security.

Operational Readiness: Prepare and set up serveries, maintain cleanliness in food service areas, and manage the efficient clearing of equipment and crockery.

Working for our organisation

You will be working for an organisation which values and respects all of its staff and the community it serves. The Trust is a leader in the NHS and research sectors and provides excellent benefits for its staff. This includes a firm commitment to professional development of its staff together with the provision of an excellent health and well-being support service.

Staff training and development is really important to us, and we offer the chance to do further qualifications and progression towards roles in collaboration with our trust Facilities Learning and Development team, as well as a variety of regular in-house and external courses.

The Ideal Candidate should be reliable and understand that patients depend on your punctuality and attention to detail. They should also be adaptable: While based at either the Northern General or Royal Hallamshire Hospitals, you are open to supporting our teams across different sites as needed. You must have a customer-focused and friendly demeanour and also take pride in providing great service to staff and visitors.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please view the attached Job Description and Person Specification documents for full details regarding this post.

When completing your application please ensure that you clearly demonstrate how you meet the role criteria.

Person specification

Experience

• Experience in catering/food services including:- Health & Safety. Different food service systems. Cash handling.
• Knowledge of allergens.
• Working in a Catering organisation/operation.
• Supervision of staff.

Qualifications

• GCSE English and Maths (A-C) or Grade 9 - 4 or equivalent experience.
• Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate or equivalent experience.
• Level 2 Health and Safety Certificate or equivalent experience.
• NVQ or apprenticeship in a Catering subject.

Skills and Knowledge

• Health & Safety knowledge including manual handling techniques, fire safety.
• Training on Equality and Diversity.
• NVQ Level 1 -Multi-skilled Food Service.

Personal Qualities

• Ability to communicate with a range of groups ie multi-cultural patients, visitors and staff.
• Basic computer skills.
• Ability to create and maintain good working relationships with individuals or teams.
• Understanding of the reasons for and ability to maintain confidentiality at all times.
• Experience of working in a large team.

Please note that in order to comply with the UK Government’s rules on Skilled Worker sponsorship, any applicants who do not meet the eligibility requirements or concessions on salary thresholds under the Skilled Worker visa will not be eligible to receive sponsorship from the Trust. Please keep this in mind when submitting your application. Further details on these concessions, and who qualifies for them, can be found here .

Candidates are advised to read the attached guidance on using AI technology. W hen you complete your application, you are required to declare that the information in your application form is true and complete. The personal statement is exactly that; personal.

For more information about our organisation and the opportunities available, please visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook

Employer certification / accreditation badges

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

All employment with the Trust is subject to a number of NHS Employment Checks being met to a satisfactory standard including verification of identity, eligibility to work in the United Kingdom, references and qualifications in addition to professional registration, a disclosure and barring records check and occupational health check if these are deemed to be a requirement for the position to be undertaken.