Assistant Head Cook

We are looking for candidates who are well organized, excellent communicators and are adaptable to both working in a high pressure environment and pace of a busy kitchen in both our West Suffolk main hospital site and our Community Hospital at Newmarket.

Candidates must have good attention to detail, able to work alone and be able to manage their time effectively.

Main duties of the job

Your main responsibilities would include.

To be jointly responsible for the supervision and efficient organisation of the food production team.

To line manage the Kitchen Portering Team.

To plan Roster and staff accordance with safe staffing levels and workloads.

To ensure that hygiene, food safety, food quality standards and safe working practices are adhered to within designated sections.

Maintain records of attendance, input overtime on the Trusts Health Roster System.

To work as part of a team providing a safe, high quality catering service for the Trust.

To prepare and serve high quality nutritious food in accordance with the departments standard recipes, using fresh ingredients.

To be able to maintain prolonged concentration when preparing and cooking several different dishes in a busy and pressured environment while supervising others.

To have a good understanding and apply this during the working practices with specific regard to HACCP and COSSH and follow the departments Food hygiene practices.

To have knowledge and apply this during the working practices with specific regard to IDDSI and follow this patient safety guidance.

To offer guidance to ward staff in the absence of dietetic support (out of hours) with specific regard to allergen, consistency and dietary requirements for patients within the Trust.

Person Specification Education & Qualification

• NVQ Level 3 Food hygiene certificate or RIPHH qualification.
• City and Guilds 706/1 & 706/2 or NVQ level 3
• Knowledge of IDDSI
• Dietary/nutrition training

Experience & Knowledge

• Good understanding of HACCP
• COSSH and Health and Safety legislation
• Previous catering experience specifically in large scale service

Skills & Abilities

• Good customer care and communication skills
• Basic skills in literacy & numeracy
• Able to work either alone or as part of a team
• Able to work under pressure
• Able to work in a demanding environment.
• Adaptable to change
• Able to work in a Hospital ward environment.
• Flexible approach to working hours/duties
• Interest in cooking/catering
• Self-motivated

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£28,392 to £31,157 a year per annum pro rata