Kitchen Assistant - Colchester

We are looking for a Kitchen Assistant to join our team of catering staff at our beautiful 69-bed specialist nursing care and dementia home situated close to Colchester town centre. We take pride in preparing appealing, nutritious, varied and well-balanced meals, which centre around our residents’ preferences, requests and special dietary requirements.

We are looking for someone with good communication skills to work flexibly as part of a small team in order to meet the needs of the service with the ability to work at weekends. You should be able to demonstrate an understanding of the home environment for our residents and engage with residents sensitively and with dignity.

About Outlook Care: Outlook Care is a specialist provider of learning disability services across London and Essex. We also specialise in dementia, elderly care, end of life and mental health. Outlook Care started in 1990 and has now been running for over 30 years. We pride ourselves on our strong values:

• Listen – always with interest, concern and action
• Inspire – through every interaction so people can achieve their ambitions
• Kind – genuine care and compassion
• Excellence – by striving to be the best we can
• Integrity – acting ethically and being accountable
• Trusting – rely upon us to do what we say we will do

Benefits at Outlook Care:

• Comprehensive induction
• Refer a Friend scheme
• Disability friendly
• Workplace pension

About you: Do you want to make a positive difference to people’s lives? Interested in working in a warm, caring and compassionate environment alongside that puts the person and their family at the centre of all that you do. Relevant experience is desirable but not essential and applications are welcomed from individuals with transferable skills. Ability to work flexibly. Team player, motivated, enthusiastic and able to build positive relationships. Excellent listening and communication skills are essential. Good standard of written, verbal and numeracy skills. Good basic IT skills. Health and Safety knowledge. An understanding of the specialist needs of older people. Basic food hygiene certificate or willing to train for it.

Job Role:

• Contribute to the wellbeing of service users by providing a good standard of food and beverages efficiently and to the highest standards.
• Prepare, cook and serve meals to appropriate standards.
• Meet health and safety and food hygiene standards by carrying out duties in line with risk assessments, regulations and relevant procedures.
• Assist in the maintenance of adequate stocks and supplies by ordering, checking and avoiding waste.
• Ensure safety of service users and premises through reporting and recording of all emergencies, incidents and accidents in accordance with Outlook Care procedures.
• Maintain a clean environment by carrying out all cleaning tasks as required.
• Undertake other domestic duties as required.

The Service: Foxburrow Grange is a 69 bed home with state-of-the-art facilities with an outstanding and friendly team of dedicated staff. The home has been delivering person-centred care for 30 years, is within easy reach of major transport links and close to Colchester town centre. The home comprises of four wings. On the ground floor are 32 bedrooms for residents with dementia, with a further 37 rooms on the first floor for people in need of nursing and/or dementia care.

Important Information: This post is subject to a satisfactory enhanced DBS disclosure. We strongly recommend you are vaccinated against Covid-19. Right to work documentation will need to be provided. Certificate of sponsorship is unavailable at this time (Skilled worker route).