Job overview

Working Full time : 37.5 hours per week 

The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Estates Department would like to appoint a Maintenance Craftsperson (Mechanical).

You will work predominantly days, based on site at The Countess of Chester Hospital.  There will be the opportunity to work overtime, which will attract enhanced rates of pay.  You will also be part of a team providing on call cover (after a probationary period) and again this will attract additional payment of approximately £2,500 per year plus any additional hours worked and mileage reimbursement.  

This role receives an additional recruitment and retention payment of £3277 per annum.  The Trust offers a generous benefits package including a career average pension scheme and annual leave entitlement commencing at 27 days increasing to a maximum of 33 days per annum plus bank holidays with service.

The Estates Department values the importance of enabling their team to personally grow and develop within the Trust. The team is very flexible and supportive and work together collaboratively internally and externally to achieve its goals, so it is exciting time to join them.  

You will become an active member of the team working to promote good working practice, minimise downtime and assist in improving standards.  You will be capable of interacting with staff at all levels on a day-to-day basis and will need to possess excellent communication skills.

Main duties of the job

1.  You will diagnose and repair complex faults in buildings services engineering, electrical, mechanical and plumbing installations, plant and equipment, to deal with new situations as they arise and to pass on complex knowledge to other staff, patients and visitors.
2. As a maintenance craftsperson you will perform a wide range of work for other building and engineering service disciplines. You will therefore be required to undertake multi-skilling tasks i.e. carry out minor works of other non-core trades such as mechanical, plumbing, building trades etc.
3. You will carry out a range of basic testing/sampling, inspection, plant operation, instrumentation readings and completion of various logbooks i.e. routine testing of water samples, boiler and plant 
   operations, utility meter readings, plant run times, lift availability etc.
4.  You will collect, collate and assimilate technical information to support performance monitoring of maintenance activities.

Working for our organisation

The Trust’s services are provided from three locations:

• The Countess of Chester Hospital: providing 473 general and acute beds.
• Ellesmere Port Hospital: providing 60 beds as a rehabilitation, intermediate and outpatient facility.
• Tarporley War Memorial Hospital: a base for community services which serve the local rural population.

The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust employs 5,964 staff (headcount) to provide care and treatment to a population of over 400,000 people living in Chester and West Cheshire which includes Ellesmere Port and Neston as well as the Deeside area of Flintshire.

The Trust works collaboratively within the wider Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System. Due to its location on the border with North Wales, the Trust also works closely with the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

The Trust treats patients from England and some parts of Wales. During 2024/2025, there were approximately 643,000 patient attendances (inpatient, A&E, outpatient and diagnostic) ranging from a simple outpatient appointment to major cancer surgery