Head Chef

Are you an experienced Head Chef who enjoys cooking and leading a team, and wants a good work/life balance? Have evenings to yourself and work 5 days a week without being under heavy pressure or stress, while working with fresh seasonal ingredients.

You’ll be joining the brand-new Neurological service, The Lakefields, which is opening early 2024. You’ll lead the team of Chefs and Catering Assistants to prepare and freshly cook nutritious meals at scale for service users, staff and visitors throughout the day. This includes catering for individual’s needs and dietary requirements.

There are regular activities, events and special occasions throughout the year which you’ll also cater for – world food day, Christmas, Easter, family day etc. In other words, plenty of chance to be creative and do something different.   

You and your catering team will run the kitchen to hotel/restaurant standards, ensuring a smooth operation with a clean kitchen, tasty menu and happy ‘customers’.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Coordinating the day-to-day management of the catering team to run an efficient food production service.
• Seeking feedback, develop and standardise seasonal menu items to ensure nutritious and high-quality food is produced.
• Overseeing the production of specialist diet menus, ad hoc diets for patients with very specialist dietary needs from specific dietetic guidance.
• Responding to any reported complaints or incidents, assisting with investigation and referring any unresolved complaints
• Conducting periodic internal audits to ensure that food hygiene standards are adhered to and service user satisfaction is met.
• Being responsible for stock management and equipment in the production areas, reporting issues or concerns.
• Planning and adjusting food and consumables orders to ensure responsiveness to patient’s needs, in line with budget and wastage control.
• Managing efficient staff rotas, plan agency and overtime cover and ensure absences are covered within agreed budgets.

To be successful as Head Chef you will need:

• Catering Diploma (City & Guilds/BTEC) and Health & Safety and Food Hygiene Certificates
• Proven competency in nutritionally balanced menu planning
• Ability to cater for specific dietary needs
• To be efficient stock control and budgeting
• Proven strong written and verbal communication skills
• Strong organisational and planning skills
• To be self-motivated, flexible and enthusiastic

Where you will be working:

Lakefields Neurological Centre will be a 22-bed service that delivers specialist 24-hour nursing and therapy services for people with complex long-term neurological conditions who require ongoing support and assistance to maximise their functional ability and improve their quality of life. The Centre specialises in neuro-rehabilitation, tracheostomy and ventilator care.

Bedrooms are adapted to individual requirements, fitted with high dependency equipment including ceiling track hoists, wall mounted suction and oxygen equipment. There are also well-equipped therapy facilities, spacious lounge areas and wheelchair access to beautiful gardens.

What you will get:

• Annual salary of up to £30,000 
• The equivalent of 33 days annual leave – plus your birthday off!
• Subsidised meals and free parking
• Wellbeing support and activities
• Career development and training
• Pension contribution
• Life Assurance
• Enhanced Maternity Package
• Flexible working opportunities

There are also a range of other benefits including retail discounts and special offers, car leasing without a credit check and much more.

About your next employer

You will be working for an established, stable and agile company with over 8,000 employees and a unique approach to the delivery of care. With a network of over 90 services across England and Wales covering Mental Health, Neurological, Learning Disabilities & Autism, Children & Education, there is opportunity for you to grow and move. 

Elysium Healthcare is part of Ramsay Health Care with a global network that extends across 10 countries and employs over 86,000 people globally. 

The safety of our service users and colleagues is our priority and as such we encourage and support vaccination uptake as this remains the best line of defence against COVID-19.