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This reassessment of the continuing significance of Lipsky's (1980) work on ‘street-level bureaucracy’ for frontline decision making is based on a retrospective review of the author's research on assessment practice in adult social care in England. The studies span the past two decades during which time successive governments have restructured and modernized social services departments. When these were established in 1970, they represented the high watermark of bureau-professionalism – a mode of administration which dominated social welfare at the time Lipsky was writing. The subsequent dismantling of bureau-professionalism calls into question the validity of his findings, and the author draws on her own research to assess conflicting views about the impact of social care reforms on the discretion which social workers exercise as street-level bureaucrats. She concludes that the distinct types of discretion to emerge from her findings, represented in a taxonomy, are shaped by the differing micro environments of frontline practice which, in turn, affect the relative force of managerialism, professionalism and user empowerment in countering the defensive exercise of discretion described by Lipsky. Whilst her analysis affirms the continuing significance of Lipsky's analysis, it also points to the need for some revision to accommodate major shifts in welfare administration since the publication of his work. She highlights the potential relevance of these insights for investigating the next planned transformation of adult social care, personalization, as well as for the implementation literature more widely.

Dystocia is considered painful and stressful for both the dam and the calf, although systematic evidence of this is limited. Few studies have investigated biochemical markers of stress and pain postpartum and whether any adverse effects are ameliorated by administration of analgesia. In this study, cow-calf pairs experiencing both mild to moderate farmer assistance and no assistance at parturition were randomly assigned to either treatment or placebo group in a two-by-two design (animals subject to veterinary intervention were excluded). The treatments were the NSAID ketoprofen or saline, administered within three hours of parturition. Blood samples taken in the immediate postpartum period, and at 24 hours, 48 hours and 7 days after parturition, were analysed for plasma concentrations of creatine kinase and cortisol (cows and calves) and plasma L-lactate and total protein concentration (calves). Stress biomarkers were highest in the immediate postpartum period and declined over time (P0.05). Cow plasma cortisol was higher in animals experiencing assisted parturition in the immediate postpartum period (P=0.023); by 24 hours no difference was evident. Intervention with NSAID analgesia did not result in beneficial changes in stress biomarkers. Based on biomarkers alone, this suggests limited benefits of NSAID treatment in unassisted or mild to moderately assisted parturition.

The records of 116 cattle suffering from cardiac disease were examined retrospectively. On the basis of the results of postmortem examinations there were 52 cases of endocarditis, 39 of pericarditis and 25 congenital cardiac defects. The most useful clinical tool for differentiating between these conditions was auscultation of the heart. The cases of pericarditis were characterised by muffled heart sounds, and the cases of endocarditis and congenital cardiac defects were characterised by a cardiac murmur. Endocarditis could be differentiated from congenital cardiac defects by the presence of a jugular pulse, venous distension, oedema, a reduced appetite, pain and polyarthritis, whereas congenital defects were associated with conformational abnormalities. These two conditions could also be differentiated by differences in the plasma sodium concentration, the albumin:globulin ratio, red blood cell count, lymphocyte count and haematocrit. The ability to differentiate between these three groups of cardiac diseases can help the veterinary practitioner in deciding whether treatment, economic salvage (slaughter for human consumption) or disposal (slaughter not for human consumption) is likely to be the best option.

In February 2013, a flock of 20 pastured ewes was treated with oral closantel. Within 10 days of dosing, one 2-year-old Texel-cross ewe that was approximately three months in lamb was noticed to be spending a prolonged time in recumbency. On the 6th of March, the animal was referred to Scottish Centre for Production Animal Health and Food Safety (SCPAHFS). At admission, the ewe appeared blind, pupils were dilated with a negative menace response and pupillary light reflex bilaterally. Closantel toxicity was suspected. Following admission, this ewe was housed and was stable despite remaining blind. On April 21, a single male lamb was born. This lamb was found to have normal clinical and neurological parameters over five months of observation following birth. On postmortem examination closantel toxicity was confirmed in the ewe while following detailed gross and histological examination of all tissues of the lamb there was no indication of the toxicity suffered by its mother.

In the wake of the Seebohm reforms of the personal social services, a number of studies were carried out in the 1970s to explore the role of frontline professionals in identifying and meeting social need. A common finding was that social workers behaved like “street-level bureaucrats”, using their discretionary authority defensively to manage an otherwise overwhelming workload. In the 1990s, top-down assessment and care management systems were put in place as part of community care reforms. Their aim was to reduce the scope of professional discretion so as to standardize responses to need and control demand according to resources available. In this paper, the authors consider the success of new systems in controlling “bottom-up” decision-making by drawing on a recent empirical study of needs assessment practice in three types of social work team. They point out that the assessment practice of those teams facing the highest bombardment rates was most obviously criteria-driven, reinforced by the use of new technology. Rather than creating informal stereotypes to manage demand, social workers could mobilize legitimate forms of rationing to protect their time and other resources. Yet the sense of professional identity, the level of frontline autonomy, and the ways in which this was exercised, varied across the different types of team. The authors conclude, therefore, that the scope of discretionary space available to frontline staff in social services departments, and the practices to which it gives rise, are empirical questions only adequately addressed by methodologies able to connect with “bottom-up” decision-making.

JOHNE'S disease is a chronic wasting disease affecting wild and domestic ruminants, of which the causative agent is Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) (Collins 2003). The disease is of considerable economic importance in cattle, causing losses as a result of reduced production, premature culling of infected animals, reduced slaughter value and the cost of testing procedures and control measures (Benedictus and others 1987, Jones 2001). Effective control can be achieved by timely detection and culling of infectious animals and by removing or reducing transmission from these animals (Kudahl and others 2008, Nielsen and Toft 2008). However, diagnosis, and therefore prevention and control, of infections with MAP can prove difficult, due to the long incubation period and a lack of tests that can accurately predict the future status of animals, and this difficulty should not be underestimated (Kennedy and Benedictus 2001, Nielsen 2008). The Orkney Johne's Disease Eradication Scheme (OJDES), which provides a voluntary screening service for cattle, was launched in November 2008 and aims to reduce and potentially eliminate the disease on Orkney. The scheme, which is inclusive to all Orkney farmers, is administered by the Orkney Livestock Association (OLA), a farmer-led organisation formed to promote animal health. OLA provides a Cattle Health Certification Standards (CHeCS)-accredited cattle health scheme via the company HI Health. Aid provided under this scheme is granted by the Orkney Islands Council, which pays the costs associated with laboratory testing for the disease for a three-year period. Participating farms have to test all breeding cattle two years of age and over for Johne's disease by milk or blood ELISA on an annual …