Cook

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 27,000; Full time

Job summary

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Cook to join the Catering Team at Freeman Hospital on a full-time contract. The role involves preparing and cooking meals for patients, staff and visitors, with a shift pattern 6am-2pm and 10am-6pm.

You should hold City & Guilds 706/2 or NVQ 3 in food preparation (or equivalent) and have broad cooking methods, including special diets, plus intermediate food hygiene. NHS catering experience is advantageous.

Qualifications

• Knowledge and Experience with a broad range of cooking methods, including special diets.
• Qualified to City & Guilds 706/2 or NVQ Level 3 in food preparation or equivalent, plus intermediate food hygiene.
• Experience of NHS Catering would be advantageous; willingness to work to a level 4 qualification.

Responsibilities

• Prepare and cook hot and cold foods for patients, staff, visitors and some functions.
• Follow hygiene practices including temperature controls and safe food handling.
• Maintain cleaning and general duties within the kitchen.
• Work as part of the Catering Team to meet service needs on a 5 days over 7 roster.

Skills

Cooking

Food preparation

Hygiene and safety

Education

City & Guilds 706/2 or NVQ 3 in food preparation

HACCP training

Job description

Main area 317 Catering - FH Grade Band 3 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Working 5 day over 7 on a 3 week roster ( shift times that you will be working are 6am to 2pm and 10pm to 6pm)) Job ref 317-2026-38-42-DR

Site Freeman Hospital Town 317 01 Freeman Hospital Salary £25,760 - £27,476 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 27/09/2026 23:59 Interview date 09/10/2026

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS hospital trusts in the country. We have around 16,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.7 billion.

With strong history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation regionally, nationally and internationally, w e’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country.

As well as providing a wide range of hospital and community services, we support people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle (Shine) and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency. Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.

Job overview

Do you work in the Hospitality Industry as a Chef and you are looking for a new challenge with better hours, no split shifts, better work life balance and paid enhancements if your working weekends, then this could be the job for you, An exciting opportunity has arisen for a full time Cook 37.5 hours a week to work as part of the Catering Team based at the Freeman Hospital. this post is mainly cooking for our on site Nursery however other general cooking duties may be included.

Knowledge and Experience with a broad range of cooking methods to include special diets would be an advantage. You must be qualified to City & Guilds 706/2 or NVQ Level 3 in food preparation or have equivalent experienceand also have intermediate food hygiene qualification. Experience of NHS Catering would be an advantage. Willing to work to a level 4 qualification.

• Interview Date Friday 09 October 2026

37 Hours 30 Minutes/Week - working shifts are 5 days over 7, shift pattern you will be working are 6am to 2pm and 10am to 6pm

Main duties of the job

You will working working shifts are 5 days over 7, shift pattern you will be working are 6am to 2pm and 10am to 6pm and must be Flexible to the needs of the Business . Duties include preparation and cooking of hot & cold foods for patients, staff, visitors, and some functions, you also must follow the hygiene within the kitchen to include temperature controls of all products, cleaning and other general duties.

We operate 365 days a year and you may be required to work over the Christmas Holidays if you are rostered in .

Working for our organisation

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

With around 2 million contacts with patients every year, we deliver care from:

• Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria

These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting-edge care (supported by state-of-the‑art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.

We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.

Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under ‘Documents to download’ or ‘Supporting documents’.

For further information on The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust please visit: Careers | Newcastle Hospitals | NHS | Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Ensuring the highest possible standard of food preparation and cooking.
• To comply with national nutritional policies and food hygiene standards.
• Providing and cooking fresh food for Patients, restaurant, of site offices and onsite nursery
• Working with the head chef to prepare daily specials
• Taking in part in food tasting and hygiene audits

Whilst Newcastle Hospitals are a forward thinking and highly innovative organisation, the use of Third‑Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity of your individual application or to the recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.

Person specification

Qualifications & Education

• City & Guilds 706/2 or NVQ 3 (food preparation) or equivalent experience.
• Hazard analysis training (HACCP) as part of advanced food hygiene controls

Knowledge & Experience

• Wide cooking methods
• Experience in Large scale Catering/ working with Dietetics
• Understanding of Trust Business
• Experience of working in the NHS kitchen

Important note on completion of reference section of Application Form

All references from current and previous employers will be sought and must cover a minimum of 3 years employment. Therefore, when completing the reference section of your application form, please give the address, telephone number and work email address of each of your current/previous line managers that cover 3 years employment. Failure to complete this section may result in your application not being processed.

Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.

Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e-mail. You should check your SPAM folders as well as your inbox. If you have not been contacted within 4 weeks of the closing date you should assume your application has been unsuccessful.