Bank Chef

Transformationunitgm; Preston; On-site; GBP 24,000 - GBP 27,000; Part time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in Preston is looking for a Bank Chef to prepare nutritious meals for patients and staff. This role involves culinary creativity and dedication to food quality, ensuring the highest standards of hygiene and dietary needs are met. The successful candidate will work in a supportive team, making a tangible difference in patient care. Opportunities for professional development and a friendly work environment are offered, with no unsocial hours required.

Benefits

Development opportunities

No unsocial hours

Supportive team environment

Qualifications

• Experience in dealing with the public.
• Awareness of standards of hygiene within a healthcare setting.
• Experience with cook-chill production systems.

Responsibilities

• Prepare and present food for patients, staff, and visitors.
• Supervise Kitchen Assistants and allocate work duties.
• Ensure compliance with hygiene regulations and food safety.

Skills

Previous Experience in the Catering Industry

Knowledge of Therapeutic diets

Food Hygiene Level 2

Education

Level 2 Certificate in Food Hygiene

Food Production Qualifications – C&G 706 /NVQ Level 2

Basic Health and Safety

Job description

Employer Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Royal Preston Hospital Town Preston Salary £24,937 - £26,598 Pro Rota, Per Annum Salary period Yearly Closing 17/02/2026 23:59

Bank Chef

Band 3

Job overview

Please note on 1 st March 2026, the Estates and Facilities Services for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, will transfer to East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and become part of OneLSC.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust will be the Lead Provider of the service and the employer of colleagues working within the service, across sites.

If you are successful in your application, and commence work prior to 1 st March 2026, your employment will transfer to East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust on 1 st March 2026 under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations, 2006. There will be no impact for your job role, terms and conditions of employment or location of work.

If you are successful in your application, and commence work after 1 st March 2026, your employer will be East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

Be More Than a Chef—Be a Vital Part of Patient Care at Preston Hospital
Cooking in a hospital isn’t just about preparing meals—it’s about making a meaningful difference every single day. At Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, our chefs play a key role in nourishing patients, staff, and visitors with nutritious, comforting food that supports recovery and wellbeing.
Join our passionate Catering team at Preston Hospital, where we prepare over 2,000 meals daily in our state-of-the-art kitchen—365 days a year. You’ll have the chance to showcase your culinary creativity, experiment with new dishes, and master the classics our patients love.
What sets you apart is your love for food and the pride you take in your craft. And you won’t be doing it alone—our friendly, supportive kitchen team is ready to welcome you and work together to deliver excellence. If you’re looking for a role where your skills truly matter, this is it.

Main duties of the job

We won’t shy away from saying that at times it will be a challenging role, but we know you will expect this and of course, this will be offset by how rewarding it is too.

Your day-to-day role will be to prepare, cook and present food for staff, visitors and primarily patients to the highest standards in line with the department’s quality control guidelines.

We already have a number of great people working within our hospitals, so we asked them what they enjoyed about this department, and this is what they had to say: https://vimeo.com/685894666/323be04684

You will ensure and observe the correct and economic use of materials and equipment, we want your ideas to help keep waste to a minimum and being creative to achieve this. You will have a good knowledge of special and therapeutic diets as well as religious, ethnic and other dietary needs as well as knowledge and experience of cook‑chill production systems. You will also take responsibility for the supervision of our Kitchen Assistants and work with them to ensure all the activities get done on time to contribute to the smooth running of our kitchen facility.

Working for our organisation

So what can we offer you? Well as well as working for an award winning organisation, you will join a very strong and dedicated team who work so hard together and have fun along the way. The satisfaction of knowing you played after our patients is what will drive you the most.

We will help you develop your skills, give you opportunities to try new things and we actively encourage you to challenge us to constantly review what we do, our processes and approaches.

You wont have to work any unsocial hours like you would in many other sectors – in fact, our existing Chefs say this is one of the things they like the most.

We are a great, modern facility with all the best gadgets and equipment – albeit in a really big scale.

We would love you to come and have a look around to see exactly what it's like, meet our teams and get to know us – just contact Neal Cropper to organise it.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Communicate effectively with colleagues to ensure an accurate exchange of information about catering tasks and service needs

Communicate with a range of customers in person and over the telephone to understand individual needs and provide information relating to the catering service

Appropriate communication with colleagues within our service areas, promote team working and shared goals

Undertake all duties relating to food production and service, including:

• Serving of food in restaurants and for patients on meal assembly belts, in wards and other patient dining rooms. This to be carried out in a timely and attractive manner to enhance appearance observing portion control
• Preparation and serving of food at functions anywhere on Trust premises.
• Allocate work and support ongoing training of kitchen assistants under your supervision.
• Meet all required deadlines
• Ensure foods are wholesome and safe
• General preparation of raw meat, fish and poultry, including weighing, traying up into containers and labelling correctly attention to prevent any risk of cross contamination.
• General preparation of all bakery items for both staff and patient menus.
• Cooking of food as per standard recipes to meet the required departmental requirements, Following daily menus and production lists using a variety of traditional cooking methods, maintaining the ‘Better Hospital Food’ standards.
• Cooking of food for adhoc events for as per production lists.
• Ensure sufficient food is prepared for each meal using figures provided.
• Have knowledge of special therapeutic diets and be able to respond at short notice.
• Ensure current hygiene regulations are adhered to paying particular attention to temperatures of food during storage, preparation, cooking and service.
• Ensuring all food products are covered and have appropriate labels with dates attached.
• Competent in the application of food hygiene at a minimum of level 2 (desirable level 3) and qualified in HACCP to level 2
• Demonstrating diligence at all times
• Supervise catering assistants on the patient service belt if the need arises due to unforeseen circumstances.
• Ensure security of trust assets including foodstuffs and reporting any thefts or losses.
• Health and safety
• Report any defective equipment or health and safety hazards
• Escalate to a manager if necessary
• Taking the piece of equipment out of action if required.
• Proactively support the continued development of the catering service
• Maintain and develop own competence
• Undertakes any training deemed necessary by the Trust or catering management team

Person specification

Qualifications & Education

• Level 2 Certificate in Food Hygiene
• Basic Health and Safety
• Food Production Qualifications – C&G 706 /NVQ Level 2
• Level 2 certificate in H.A.C.C.P

Knowledge & Experience

• Previous Experience in the Catering Industry
• Previous experience in dealing with the public.
• Awareness of confidentiality in an NHS environment
• Awareness of the standards of hygiene and cleanliness within a healthcare setting
• Knowledge of Therapeutic diets.
• Knowledge of Cook-Chill production

Thanks for taking the time to view this advert; we’re looking forward to receiving your application. You should be aware that the vacancy may close earlier than the published date if sufficient applications are received so it would be best to apply as soon as you can. We’ll contact you by e‑mail to update you on the progress of your application so please check the e‑mail account that you applied from (including spam/junk) regularly.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity, celebrating and valuing diversity and eliminating any form of unlawful discrimination across our workforce, ensuring our people are truly representative of the communities we serve. All individuals regardless of race, age, disability, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, neurodiversity or veteran status are encouraged to apply for this post. Our Statement on the Recruitment of Ex-Offenders is available Here

To support you in your application process we’ve created a What we can offer you guide that shows what you can expect when you join our hospitals. The guide includes links to our strategic aims and objectives as well as our values, development support and rewards and benefits. To help you get the best from your application we’ve also put together two guides to help you make your application the best it can be. Just click here and here to go through them, or have themopen as you complete your application.

We recognise that the recruitment process may present barriers for some and you may need personal adjustments to enable you to participate in our recruitment process. Please make contact with the recruitment team at the earliest opportunity to ensure that measures can be put in place to enable your application for this post.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications

If you choose to use AI or other tools to assist in writing your application, it's essential to personalise this information, particularly your supporting information section. While AI can help streamline the writing process, these tools cannot fully grasp the context or requirements of the job you’re applying for. There is also a risk that it can generate false or misleading information.
AI-generated job applications can often be generic, impersonal and may not accurately reflect your qualifications, knowledge, skills, and experiences. It is crucial that you personalise your supporting statement by articulating these in your unique voice. Relying solely on AI to write your application or supporting information section is not advocated by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals and could negatively impact your chances of success in the application process.

We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored and if applicants have used it then they are required to declare this.

Supporting Information

The supporting information section is an opportunity for you to showcase how your qualifications, knowledge, skill and experiences align with the requirements and criteria outlined in the job description and person.
Our recruiting managers score applications based on the criteria listed in the person specification. They will be looking for evidence of how you meet these criteria. To increase your chances of securing an interview, provide examples of how you have applied your skills and knowledge in real‑life situations. Share work‑related successes and challenges you’ve navigated that align with the criteria. These could be from various aspects of your life, including work, education, and personal experiences.
Consider structuring your supporting information section with clear headings or bullet points. This approach will help both you and the recruiting manager navigate through your application more effectively.

Working Smarter pledge

We are reminded everyday of how important life is, so as part of our Working Smarter pledge we offer a variety of flexible working options and wellbeing support to enable our people to find and maintain the right work‑life balance.

Secondments

If you are applying for a secondment role please ensure you have agreement from your current line manager prior to attending an interview. Also please ensure you have read the LTHTR Secondment Policy. A copy of this can be found on the intranet or by [e-mail]

Please note a young person must be in part‑time education or training until they’re 18. therefore if you are under 18 we are unable to employ you on a full time basis, unless it is in an apprenticeship role.

Disclosure and Barring Service checks

If the role you’ve applied for requires a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check we will administer this on your behalf and the cost will be recovered from your salary, either as a one‑off payment, or over 3 months. The level of check required depends on the role that you have been offered. Currently the charges are - Basic DBS check £26.40 Standard DBS check £26.40 and Enhanced DBS check £54.40. You should be aware that if you are successful in obtaining a position that requires a DBS check but later withdraw your application, you may be required to reimburse the cost of the DBS check. DBS checks remain free of charge for volunteer positions. The DBS Code of Practice can be accessed here .

In line with guidance from United Kingdom Health Security Agency, all staff and volunteers are required to comply with Trust Infection Prevention & Control processes in relation to safe working. This includes mask wearing and adherence to social distancing at all Trust sites.

NO UNSOLICITED ADVERTISING COMPANY APPROACHES

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Employer certification / accreditation badges

This post will require a submission for Disclosure to be made to check for any unspent criminal convictions.