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Job summary

Main area
Catering
Grade
Band 2
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week (5 days out of 7)
Job ref
151-LC5113
Employer
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Wexham Park Hospital
Town
Slough, Berkshire
Salary
£26,618 per annum incl HCAS
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
17/09/2026 23:59

Employer heading

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust logo

Catering Assistant

Band 2

Job overview

If you are looking for an opportunity to make a difference and work in a fast-paced, highly rewarding department, our Catering team at Wexham Park Hospital is recruiting Catering Assistants to assist in providing a highly professional and customer-focused catering service to all patients, staff, and visitors.

The ideal candidate will be willing to work hard as part of a team and 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.

On a typical day as a Catering Assistant, 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.

Due to the nature of the role, you will be required to adhere to departmental standards and food hygiene regulations. You will also 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 and a certificate in food safety are desirable, though this is not essential, as full training will be given.

You will complete a Maths and English assessment as part of the recruitment process. You must pass this test to progress to an interview.

Main duties of the job

The role requires that the job holder follows the duties laid out by the Café  Supervisor in the day-to-day operational management of the café.  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 Courtyard  Restaurant.

The job holder will assist the Supervisor to expand and/or make recommendations for improving standards and enhancing the service to all customers. This would be through quality initiatives and by looking at ways of maximising good customer care and income generation.

You’ll need to be aware of menu content whilst understanding the importance of portion control, food presentation and customer care. In addition, you must ensure that the privacy and dignity of visitors, staff and patients is respected at all times.

Working for our organisation

This position is not eligible for Skilled Worker visa sponsorship.  Applicants must already hold the right to work in the UK for the duration of the contract.

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.

Frimley Health Trust benefits on Vimeo

Frimley Health Trust benefits

 

 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Undertake all duties relating to food service including:
• Prepare food service areas and equipment e.g. placing equipment ready for use (woks, fryers etc.)
• Serve food and drinks in patient/staff dining outlets and on the patient meal assembly 
• Ensure a full supply of crockery and cutlery to the restaurant during service hours
• Deliver and collect meal trolleys to/from wards and departments
• Deliver catering supplies to wards and departments including call orders
• Menu collation, picking of all ward food according to menu choice and record information

Undertake preparation of all foodstuffs:
• Assist in food preparation e.g. peeling vegetables, prepping salad items, traying up and labelling items
• Assessment of good portion control, manage food waste and appropriate record-keeping
• Decant chilled food
• Regeneration of food and garnishing
• Adhere strictly to standard recipes and production methods, check food and beverages served, for quantity, quality and appearance and maintain correct standards of hygiene and temperature control as per HACCP

Operate cash registers in retail areas, demonstrating due diligence at all times:
• Undertake cashier duties including receipt and accounting of cash and vouchers, operation of cash register to give correct change, ensuring cash security, maintaining records relating to cash handling, balancing cash takings with till receipts and accounting for differences
• Comply with all organisational and departmental procedures relating to cash handling and security
• Replace or refund patients or retail customers to ensure immediate customer satisfaction, escalating to supervisor or manager as required 

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • GCSE or Equivalent
  • Level 2 Food Safety Certificate
  • Previous catering experience
Desirable criteria
  • Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene or Good knowledge of Food safety and Kitchen hygiene
  • Team player

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Basic catering experience
  • Hygiene COSSH procedures
Desirable criteria
  • Experience in healthcare
  • Infection prevention and control

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Good communication skills
  • Customer focussed
  • Good time management skills

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoNo smoking policyMenopause Friendly EmployerCare quality commission - GoodArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardWe offer Wagestream - A financial wellbeing benefit which lets you access your pay as you earn it.Disability confident employerWe Work Flexibly

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Pauline Pryke
Job title
Food service Manager
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
0300 6153262
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