Job summary
- Main area
- Grounds Mainteance and Landscaping
- Grade
- Band 3
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday - Friday)
- Job ref
- 350-TWS7766600-A
- Employer
- Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Maghull Health Park
- Town
- Maghull
- Salary
- £24,937 - £26,598 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 08/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Gardener / Grounds person
Band 3
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Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.
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Job overview
Mersey Care NHS Trust is set in approximately 100 acres of grounds and provides facilities for the treatment in secure and non secure conditions.. The gardeners / groundsmen provide input to maintain all areas of the Mersey Care Estate grounds to a high standard. The overall objective is to provide an aesthetically pleasing environment in which patients can be treated and staff can work. The postholder, a member of the Horticultural Department team, is responsible for the implementation of the trusts Grounds Maintenance Policy. Duties of the post include maintenance of grassed areas, trees, shrubs, floral beds, sports pitches and other general areas including paths and roadways.
There is an emphasis on maintaining safe working conditions and adhering to rigid security factors in relation to secure use and storage of tools, machinery and garden materials. Gardening staff are fully flexible in respect of all cross-site duties. The postholder works to established working procedures, grounds maintenance codes of practice, established standards and objectives.
The Senior Gardener is available for reference and advice and monitors the postholder’s work.
Main duties of the job
Dig, hoe, manure, plant out and stake and tie plants in a competent fashion. Trim and prune ornamental flowering trees, shrubs and hedges. Competence in the care and use of tools and hand and mechanically propelled gardening equipment including mowers, rotovators, sweepers, hedge-cutters and chemical sprayers. Maintain garden areas. Detect and report common plant pests and diseases to the Senior Gardener and treat these as directed. Identify and competently use basis organic and inorganic fertilisers. Dig out and weed flowerbeds and shrubberies. Assist in tree felling and lopping operations. Assist with minor landscaping work. Assist in the maintenance of the grounds in a clean and tidy condition including leaf clearance and other debris from footpaths, car parks, grassed areas, gardens and shrubberies. Undertake the care and assist in the erection of equipment for Hospital functions. Assist in the maintenance, preparation and marking out of sports pitches and other sport areas. Movement, simple repairs, painting and preservation of garden furniture. Gritting, salting and clearance of snow from Hospital roadways, path and car parks either manually or by snowplough or gritter trailer. Assist in unloading, distribution and safe storage of all materials used in gardening operations. To work with patients, if required, in the basic skills of gardening. Participate in seasonal on-call rota assisting with routine and ad hoc winter provisions
Working for our organisation
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Responsibilities:
For Financial Resources – None Directly. Overall indirect responsibility to avoid loss or wastage of any resources.
For Equipment – Responsible for reporting losses, damage and breakages to Senior Gardener. Responsible for the secure use and storage of tools / equipment. The accurate setting-up and adjustment of complex machinery is a feature of the job.
For Materials – Responsible for reporting losses, spillages, leakage, breakage and damage to the Senior Gardener. The accurate calibration of applicators and use of chemicals and fertilisers is a feature of the job.
For Contract with People
Internal – Daily regular contact with members of the Gardens Department Team, ward staff and other disciplines..
External – Contact with garden supplies representatives, advisors, and visiting sports facility users. Directing professional visitors to appropriate locations.
Patients –There will be regular contact with patients. Minimal contact with patient’s relatives.
For Security Keys – When working on secure sites, all garden staff must take responsibility for security keys issued to access departments, wards and other secure areas.
Supervision Exercised:
Supervisor of patients who are involved in garden duties may be required.
Supervision Received/ Freedom of Action:
The Senior Gardener provides allocation of work and day-to-day supervision. Work is inspected by the Senior Gardener on a sample/ random basis. When working overtime, staff may not be supervised and have the freedom of action to make decisions and act accordingly when reacting to changing circumstances. Ideas contributing to the continued or improving efficiency of the department are encouraged.
Environment:
Working Conditions – Mainly outdoors but some indoor work during inclement weather.
Physical Effort – Varies from light to heavy, depending on the type of work. Intense physical effort for long periods of time can be required. Mandatory manual handling courses are provided.
Mental Effort – There is a frequent requirement for prolonged concentration when operating machinery.
Responsibilities for all Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust staff:
All post holders will agree to:
Commit to the vision of supporting Mersey Care in becoming a leading organisation in the provision of community services, mental health care, addiction services and learning disability care, and in doing so fully utilise their skills and experience to support the objectives of the Trust.
Role model the values of the Trust – Continuous Improvement, Accountability, Respectfulness, Enthusiasm and Support– in all activities and interactions with employees, service users and other stakeholders.
Challenge the stigma associated with mental health and learning difficulties.
Comply with the Duty of Candour, defined by Francis as: 'The volunteering of all relevant information to persons who have or may have been harmed by the provision of services, whether the information has been requested and whether or not a complaint or a report about that provision has been made.
Work across professional and organisational boundaries to improve services for all.
Maintain their specific knowledge base and develop new skills.
Value the contribution of the patient/ service user voice.
Operate within any organisational codes of practice or those from a relevant professional body.
Respect equality and diversity across all areas of working practice and communications with staff, service users and other stakeholders.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Relevant Diploma or equivalent qualification
- National Proficiency Test Certificate qualification in spray chemical use PA1 and PA6
- National Proficiency test Certificate qualification in chainsaw use
Knowledge/Experience
Essential criteria
- Demonstrable professional gardening experience
- Possession of initiative and decision-making capability
- Good observation skills
- Evidence of physical fitness
- Ability to think clearly, analyse problems and react sensibly in emergencies.
Desirable criteria
- Good level of verbal communication skills
Values
Essential criteria
- Continuous Improvement
- Accountability
- Respectfulness
- Enthusiasm
- Support
- High professional standards
- Responsive to service users
- Engaging leadership style
- Strong customer service belief
- Transparency and honesty
- Discreet
- Change oriented
Skills
Essential criteria
- A demonstrated understanding of Equality and Human Rights
- Prepared to and able to work as part of a team
Desirable criteria
- Overall background interest in nature, horticulture
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
The postholder will have regular contact with vulnerable people and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Paul Pruden
- Job title
- Facilites Site Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
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