24th April 2015

Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you to all those practices who have signed and returned their Service
Level Agreements (SLA/Contracts).We appreciate that the deadlines have been
tight to get advice and give due consideration to this legal document and thank
you for your time and in prioritising this process.
In some instances there have been queries and circumstances requiring further
time and as a result of this we are extending the deadline in those situations to
the very last possible day which is next Friday May 1 st. Those queries have been
clarified briefly below.
However, it firmly remains the case that we will be unable to allocate
government veterinary work to any potential subcontractor that has not signed
and returned the contract by Friday the 1 st May at which point steps will be taken
to begin the process of allocating orphan farms to an approved subcontractor
to allow us to plan and manage work flow. This process will include writing to
these farms in early May. Therefore if you wish to guarantee the seamless
provision of government work to your own clients, it is essential that you sign the
SLA and return it to us without delay and in any case before the 1 st May.
The key areas requiring clarification are addressed below:
1. Key Performance Indicator (KPI) No. 3 (Schedule 3 p 24 of SLA)
A number of individuals have expressed concern at the Required Success Rate
April 2015-16 of 100%. We formally raised this with APHA at our meeting this
week and can confirm that in response to our query, this has been officially
amended to 95%:

KP
I

Description

Require

Data

Type

source

of

No

Success

failure

Rate
April
3

Services A-C: All data input

2015-16
95%

SAM/TOM

and submitted on SAM are

accurate.
Furthermore, we would like to share the following statement from APHA
regarding how they plan to finalise this KPI during the following six months:
during the first six months of the contract, APHA and the Delivery Partners
will work in partnership to identify the common error codes that are experienced
for KPI 3. We will then look to remedy the situation, providing help and
support where and when necessary. Mutual agreement will be reached to
finalise the KPI.
In essence, you can be rest assured that there is to be a collaborative approach
to making sure that this KPI is both fair and achievable.

2. Orphan keeper allocation.

We should like to remind practices to please return a completed and signed form
indicating if they agree to be included on a Keepers Choice list. We would
reassure practices that they will not be compelled against their wishes or their
resources in circumstances where it is not practically possible to fulfil this
obligation. There is not a definite fixed cap in place but common sense will apply.
3. Supplementary charging.
Following the APHA statement included in the information pack no further advice
will be forthcoming. Suffice it to say it becomes a business transaction between
client and veterinary surgeon in those situations where Farmers do not meet
their obligations to present cattle in a safe and efficient manner or want testing

to be undertaken in a way that suits their business but adds cost to the OV
delivery.
4. Use of a shared TB tester/self-employed TB tester or locum.
The process is purely to submit details of this OV through to us and we will give
due consideration to the individual situation and likely our approval within a
short period.
We hope that this helps answer the main queries that you may have had
regarding the contract. For those who have not yet signed and returned it may I
please urge you to do so at your earliest convenience. May I remind you that in
order to ensure you continue to provide a seamless testing service to
your own clients, it is essential that you sign and return the SLA to us
by Friday 1st May. If you do have any further specific queries, please do not
hesitate to contact me.
Many thanks for your cooperation,
Yours faithfully,

Andrew Davies

Chairman
XL Farmcare Wessex Limited
Mob:07970700535
Practice:0193583682
email: andrew.davies@synergyfarmhealth.com