Performance Failures are failures by the Contractor to provide services in accordance with the Service Level Specifications. They are a combination of failures which are not attributable to specific areas of the facility (e.g. failure to provide staff training) and failures which can be appropriately allocated to physical areas of the Facility (e.g. failure to deliver meals to a ward on time or failure to respond to a spillage in Theatre in the specified time). They are reported on an exception basis by the Board and/or the Contractor who is obliged to report all such Performance Failures. The occurrence of a Performance Failure triggers financial deductions based on a sliding scale which determines the size of the deduction (it can range between £12.50 to £200 per Performance Failure) depending on whether the Performance Failure is designated as a Minor, Medium or Major Performance Failure under the Service Level Specifications. The Board will determine the categorisation of the Performance Failures when agreeing the Service Level Specifications depending on the importance of the area in which it occurred or the importance of the requirement.
No more than one Performance Failure can occur in respect of an individual Service Requirement during the relevant Performance Monitoring Period (such period being set out in the Service Level Specifications) and if there are duplication of Service Requirements in the Service Level Specifications, then only one Performance Failure can be deemed to have occurred.