Head Chef

Job Summary
St Teresa’s Hospice, Darlington is seeking a head chef to manage all Catering
and Housekeeping functions at St Teresa’s Hospice, providing 5-star standard
nutrition to our patients and running and developing our bistro cafeteria for
staff, visitors and the general public.
The ideal candidate will have a passion and enthusiasm for food with a highly flexible approach to preparing and
serving meals to our patients in our inpatient unit ensuring that their dietary needs and preferences are catered for
wherever possible

Location: St Teresa’s Hospice, The Woodlands, Woodland Road, Darlington, DL3 7UA

Hours: We are ideally seeking a full-time candidate for 37.5 hours per week; usual working pattern Monday to
Friday, 8am to 4pm.

We are open to considering part-time applications for a minimum of 22.5 hours per week over 3 days.

You will need to be able to work flexibly as required for cover and special events (including some evening and
weekend work)

St Teresa’s Hospice Band 5: £30, 310 to £34, 795 per annum WTE (pro rata to hours contracted).

Important application info:
Successful applicants are required to provide a standard disclosure. Disclosure expense will be met by St Teresa’s
Hospice. All posts are subject to a six-month probationary period.

The closing date for this job is: 14 December 2025 or as soon as sufficient applications have been received. Please
apply as soon as possible to be considered for this role.

Please be aware that we do not have a sponsor license and are therefore only able to appoint candidates who are
eligible to work in the UK.

Main duties of the job:
We are a forward thinking, inclusive registered Charity with Inpatient, Outpatient and Hospice at Home services,
providing care and support to palliative patients and their families in their own homes and at St Teresa’s Hospice.

The Head Chef will manage all Catering and Housekeeping functions at St Teresa’s Hospice, ensuring high standards
of food hygiene, nutrition, and cleanliness are adhered to throughout the services, and that all supplies are
efficiently procured and tracked.

Essential and desirable qualifications, skills and experience include:
Essential:

Intermediate Food Hygiene Certificate

  Relevant Catering qualification at Level 3 or above (or equivalent knowledge and professional experience)

  Experience of leading a team
  Experience of devising and using schedules and checklists to maintain standards
  Experience of menu setting and planning using a rotational system
  Experience of in a leadership/management role within a commercial catering business
  Able to produce professional quality food from fresh ingredients, including meals and refreshments

Desirable:

  Experience of catering for special diets and therapeutic diets
  Experience of hospitality/event catering

For further details, please see the job description and person specification which is available from our website at
https://darlingtonhospice.org.uk/work-with-us/

An induction and ongoing training will be provided.

About Us:
Join an organisation where we all work together for a shared charitable goal, based in beautiful grounds, with a
community feel and an inclusive culture.

Benefits of working for St T's include:

  Training and development opportunities
  Generous company annual leave, sick pay, and maternity/paternity/adoption pay entitlements
  Continuation of existing NHS pension scheme at Band 5+, and other pension schemes available
  Opportunities to attend and participate in fun and exciting fundraising and awareness events
  Workforce events, including long service awards
  Employee Assistance Programme including free counselling/CBT
  Discounted complementary therapies including acupuncture & massage
  Onsite Bistro
  Free eye tests for computer users
  Hospice-based staff are eligible for free annual flu jabs
  Free will-writing service via Octopus Legacy
  Discounted local leisure centre membership and eligibility for Blue Light discount card

Please contact HR for further details.

St Teresa’s Hospice complies with GDPR during the recruitment and selection process. For information on how we
process your data, please see the NHS Jobs Privacy Notice and St Teresa’s Hospice Recruitment Privacy Notice.

St Teresa’s Hospice is a Disability Confident Employer. We are committed to employing and retaining disabled
people, and we encourage applications from all sectors of the community.

To apply:
You can download the application form at: https://darlingtonhospice.org.uk/work-with-us/

Please submit your completed application form via post or by hand to HR Dept, St Teresa’s Hospice, The
Woodlands, Woodland Road, Darlington, DL3 7UA, or by email to hr@darlingtonhospice.org.uk

For more information about the role, please contact the HR Office on 01325 254321.

Our Values:
Our values are our core beliefs. They explain who we are, what we believe in and what we stand for.