Chef

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust; Slough; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 25,000; Part time

Job summary

A prominent NHS hospital in Slough is seeking a passionate Chef to prepare high-quality, homemade meals for patients and staff. The ideal candidate will have experience in a quality kitchen and possess a strong understanding of food hygiene regulations. This role requires dedication to using fresh ingredients and maintaining high standards of meal presentation. It offers a part-time position of 30 hours weekly, focusing on making a positive impact on patient care.

Qualifications

• Experience in a quality-focused kitchen environment.
• Ability to maintain hygiene and food safety standards.
• Career progression to a chef position in a similar NHS operation.

Responsibilities

• Prepare and cook a variety of dishes using fresh ingredients.
• Present meals attractively ensuring portion control.
• Contribute to menu development for patient and staff meals.

Skills

Passion for food

Excellent communication

Ability to work under pressure

Teamwork skills

Education

City & Guilds 706/1 and 2 or NVQ equivalent

Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene

Job description

Job Overview

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Catering Services are looking for a passionate and skilled Chef to join our dedicated team. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who takes pride in producing delicious, traditional, homemade meals using fresh, locally sourced ingredients wherever possible.

Based in our large Retail kitchen, you will play a key role in preparing nutritious and appetising food for both patients and staff. With a strong emphasis on quality, sustainability and care, your work will directly impact the wellbeing and recovery of our patients – as well as the morale of our hardworking NHS colleagues.

This role is 30 hours per week, working on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Main duties of the job

• Preparing and cooking a variety of dishes using fresh ingredients, following NHS recipe standards and menu plans.
• Presenting meals attractively and ensuring proper portion control.
• Catering for dietary requirements and special diets in liaison with senior chefs.
• Supporting occasional function and hospitality catering as needed.
• Maintaining the highest hygiene and food safety standards in line with legislation and Trust policy.
• Assisting with stock control, storage, temperature checks, and kitchen cleanliness.
• Contributing to menu development and improving patient and staff meal offerings
  
  

What We’re Looking For

• Proven experience in a chef role within a quality-focused kitchen environment.
• A genuine passion for food, presentation, and delivering excellence.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure in a busy kitchen setting.
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills.
• Awareness of current food hygiene regulations and best practices.
  
  

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.

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Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

Please refer to the full Job Description and Person Specification for further details.

Please note sponsorship is not provided for this role

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• City & Guilds 706/1 and 2 or NVQ equivalent
• Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Intermediate Certificate in Food Hygiene
• Knowledge of HACCP
  
  

Experience

Essential criteria

• Career structure that shows a logical progression to a chef position in a similar size and/or NHS catering operation
• Experience of working in a service led and customer focused environment
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Experience with both the commercial food service sector and/or an NHS catering operation
  
  

Skills

Essential criteria

• Good command of written English
• Ability to work efficiently and to time
• Organised and methodical
  
  

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust (FHFT) has an outstanding reputation and a proud record of achievement. As a well performing, well led and ambitious Foundation Trust, we have exciting times ahead of us. We have an ongoing commitment to improving the health and care services for the 900,000 people we serve across Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and south Buckinghamshire.

We are proud of the ambitions laid out in our strategy, Our Future FHFT, including our vision to be a leader in health & wellbeing, delivering excellence for our communities.

We continue to invest in our services and facilities, including a £10 million upgrade to the hospital maternity unit as well as £49m major new Emergency Assessment Centre on our Wexham Park site. The opening of a brand new £100m state of the art hospital which replaced the existing hospital facility at Heatherwood and are planning to invest further in diagnostics and inpatient capacity at Frimley Park.

We have also made significant investment in our quality improvement and digital programmes to support our vision and we will ensure that we achieve our aim of providing the highest quality healthcare to our patients. Our new EPR – Epic – went live in June and we are already beginning to reap the benefits of this ambitious investment.

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.

Apply online now