Catering Assistant

Employer heading

Catering Assistant

Band 2

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, we'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
The Royal Victoria Infirmary Catering Department have an exciting opportunity for a part time Catering Assistant working 35 hours per week, working 5 days over 7 on a rotational cycle weekend working is required hours of work between 08:30-19:30

• Interview Date: 6 January 2026
• 35 Hours/week
• You will be redirected to Trac to apply for the vacancy. Please expand the job details section and read all of the information before applying for the vacancy.

NO AGENCIES PLEASE
Main duties of the job

As a Catering Assistant you will be responsible for supporting and working as part of the wider catering team during and throughout patients meal assembly, service and delivery .

You will be responsible for ensuring patient menu requirements are provided as per their menu choice at all meal times

Food service has be co-ordinated in line with with the ward regeneration schedule which will allow patients meal trollies to be delivered to ward level.

You will also be working as part of the team stripping returned patients meal trollies .

Cleaning of the meal trollies after each meal period cleaning of the catering department on a daily basis as per all identified cleaning schedules.

Any identified deep cleaning requirements as requested by the supervisory/management team.

Removal of catering rubbish and food waste.

Please note this role involves a lot of moving and handling.

Duties Will Include

• Working as part of the catering team assembling and preparing meals as per their pre-ordered meal requirements
• Allowing patient food to be delivered to wards and departments through out the day.
• Working with the catering team as food trollies are returned to the department
• Effective cleaning of patient's meal trays and trollies after each meal service
• Ensuring the department is cleaned and maintained to the very highest standard ensuring compliance with the Food Hygiene Regulations and departmental HACCP systems

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:

• Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI)
• Freeman Hospital
• Newcastle Dental Hospital
• Cramlington Manor Walks
• Urgent treatment centres
• Newcastle Fertility Centre
• Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria
• Northern Genetics Service

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

• Responsible for assisting in the efficient and effective preparation and service of food and beverages to patients, staff and visitors including the associated cleaning and hygiene related duties.

Person specification

Qualifications & Education
Essential criteria

• Level 2 Food Hygiene Qualification

Desirable criteria

• Allergen Awareness Qualification
• Full Clean Driving Licence

Knowledge & Experience

Essential criteria

• Awareness of good food hygiene practices

Desirable criteria

• Experience in NHS Catering

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