Senior Head Chef in Preston inPreston PUBLISHED WED 12 NOV 2025 Jump to job information section

Job summary
Your passion for food and cooking will be what makes you stand out from the rest. We know how much you will love ensuring nutritious and delicious meals are served to our patients and staff - taking great pride in knowing the meals you are preparing contribute to patient care and keeps our hospitals running.This is a key role within the supervisory team and you will use your exceptional supervisory, leadership and communication skills to lead and manage the kitchen.

Main duties of the job
You will ensure and observe the correct economic use of materials and equipment. You will have

Experience
within a large scale cook chill catering operation including special and therapeutic diets as well as religious, ethnic, and other dietary needs.You will be expected develop the kitchen team and will be required to work closely with your colleagues, providing a flexible comprehensive service and cover for colleagues, when necessary, for which full training will be provided. You will be responsible for allocating the roles to all Kitchen Staff.You will be the initial point of contact in the kitchen for all communication promoting customer care and reflecting the quality standards of Estates and Facilities Department in all aspects of work undertaken.Of course, you won't be alone, we have a great team of kitchen staff who will support you all the way and cannot wait to welcome you. We have a great team ethos, all supporting each other and working together to achieve the best outcomes and we are really proud of this. Our team are proud to work together to prepare 2,000 meals on site, 365 days a year in our fabulous kitchen facility at Preston Hospital. There is plenty of opportunity for you to develop your skills and be creative with our menus.

About us
We have 10,000 fantastic people working hard to deliver quality services to our patients. Whatever your role, you help look after 370,000 people in our local area & give specialist care to 1.5 million people across Lancashire & Cumbria.Working with us gives you the knowledge and sense of pride that every activity you do genuinely does make a difference to support our patients & staff, ensuring we keep thriving & delivering outstanding healthcare right across our local towns.You'll have access to varied development opportunities, learn new skills, meet fab people & do things you'd never have done. You'll learn about working in a hospital, interacting with people from all different roles to build skills & enhance your career path.You'll make an impact, be challenged to think differently, be bold & help innovate to keep improving things. Everything we do centres around patient care and enhancing their

Experience
which means your role is pivotal and something really to be proud of.

Details

Date posted
12 November 2025

Pay scheme
Agenda for changeBandBand 4

Salary
£27,485 to £30,162 a year per annum, pro rata

Contract
Permanent

Working pattern
Full-time

Reference number
438-PB3587-A

Job location
sRoyal PrestonSharoe green Lane, FulwoodPrestonPR2 9HT

Job description

Job responsibilities
To supervise, lead and manage the general preparation and production of all food in all departments.To co-ordinate the day-to-day planning and organisation of the kitchen.Ensure security of Trust assets including foodstuffs and reporting any thefts or losses.To lead and manage the cooking of food to ensure it is completed as per standard recipes following daily menus and production lists using a variety of traditional cooking methods.To maintain Quality Assurance Programmes and food safety controls ensuring appropriate records are kept with action initiated where necessary.To assess and maintain control of allergens throughout the production process and ensure allergen records are complete and updated in line with any production changes.To liaise and co-operate with specialist

Contract
or, e.g.

Contract
cleaners and pest control.Assist with the revision and compilation of staff menus and menus for patients in accordance with the Better Hospital Food policy.To ensure all compliance documentation is available and completed in line with expected standards and following up any discrepancies as appropriate.

Job description

Contract
or, e.g.

Person Specification

Qualifications
and EducationEssentialGood general educationAdvanced Food Hygiene CertificateBasic Health and SafetyFood Production

Qualifications
- C&G 706 /NVQ Level 2Level 2 certificate in H.A.C.C.PLevel 2 certificate in AllergensNVQ Level 3 in Supervisory Management or equivalent

Experience
DesirableLevel 3 certificate in HACCPLevel 3 certificate in allergensManual Handling TrainedIOSHHealth and Safety CertificateKnowledge and EducationEssentialAll round Catering Supervisory

Experience
, preferably in large busy kitchen/organisationPrevious

Experience
in dealing with the publicAwareness of confidentiality in an NHS environmentAwareness of the standards of hygiene and cleanliness within a healthcare settingKnowledge of Therapeutic diets & IDDSIUnderstanding and competency of HACCP RequirementsUnderstanding and competency on the importance of Food Safety, Health and Safety, C.O.S.H.HUnderstanding of the 14 key allergens as stated in the Food Information for Consumers Regulation 2Experience
of working within health & safety guidelinesDesirableCertificate in diet cookery

Experience
of public sector, preferably NHS

Experience
in entering Catering Completions and showcasing skills

Experience
of Electronic Catering System such as MenumarkMembership of Hospital Caterers Association (HCA)

Person Specification

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.Employer

Details