General Catering Assistant

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; England; On-site; GBP 18,000 - 22,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent NHS Trust in the United Kingdom is seeking a Catering Assistant to prepare and serve food across hospital sites. This role involves customer service, food preparation, and ensuring cleanliness within kitchen areas. The ideal candidate will demonstrate excellent customer service skills and the ability to work collaboratively with team members. Join a friendly team committed to delivering high-quality patient care and benefit from extensive training and development opportunities.

Qualifications

• Ability to work in a team and independently.
• Good time management skills.
• Understanding of hygiene and safety regulations.

Responsibilities

• Assist with food preparation and serve customers.
• Replenish stock and monitor kitchen areas.
• Clean and maintain kitchen equipment.

Skills

Customer service

Basic food preparation

Cash handling

Job description

To prepare and serve food to a high standard for distribution across the hospital, ensuring it meets user expectations and responds to the needs of patients, visitors, and staff through consistently excellent customer service. The post holder will work across various areas within the department and maintain high standards of hygiene and presentation at all times. They will support Supervisors and Managers by ensuring all preparation and kitchen areas remain clean, tidy, and well‑organised. The role also includes ensuring that staff, equipment, and food resources are used efficiently and cost‑effectively to support the overall delivery of the service.

Responsibilities

• Assist with basic food preparation such as baguettes, sandwiches, salads, fruit and vegetables, beverages, and other tasks as directed by the Catering Manager.
• Serve customers politely and professionally at all times, ensuring a positive experience within the catering department.
• Replenish and monitor stock on shelves, ensuring timely re‑ordering through the correct procedures.
• Operate cash registers and manage cash takings in line with departmental guidelines.
• Participate in daily cleaning duties according to the departmental cleaning schedule, cleaning equipment, storage areas and temperature‑controlled spaces in line with HACCP guidance and COSHH requirements.
• Monitor kitchen areas for signs of pest activity and report concerns to the Catering Manager.
• Ensure all food waste is disposed of using the food waste machine and that other waste is compacted and disposed of correctly.

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.

Note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job.

Please refer to the full job description for further details.

This advert closes on Thursday 29 Jan 2026