Adam John

The Environment Agency has urged water companies to take action and has warned of the “precarious” drought situation facing England. If this winter is drier than normal, it added, England will experience worse levels of drought next year.

The new 'super regulator' being set up to monitor the water sector should have a seat on each company’s board, an industry expert has suggested. Ian Barker, honorary professor at the University of Exeter’s Centre for Water Systems, said such a move could encourage water companies to “up their performance”…

There is a “growing risk” of the UK’s offshore energy supply chain relocating overseas due to project delays, a trade body has warned. Global Underwater Hub’s (GUH) latest business survey found that frequent delays to offshore energy and infrastructure projects are threatening the viability of the UK supply chain.

Contracts for difference (CfD) could be introduced to the gas market under plans being considered by government. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the model, currently used for low-carbon electricity generation, is one of several revenue-support tools under consideration to ensure supply meets demand for gas in…

Yorkshire Water has said it will be able to remove its hosepipe restrictions earlier than initially thought thanks to the recent heavy rainfall in the area. In July the company became the first in the country to issue a hosepipe ban this year, following months of consistently low rainfall. However,…

Consumers will no longer need to be half-hourly settled before partaking in flexibility markets under new rules being unveiled by Elexon. In what is being hailed as a “breakthrough for flexibility provision”, a new change to the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) is being introduced to allow significantly more consumers…

Centrica and investment firm Energy Capital Partners (ECP) have completed the acquisition of Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal from National Grid. The deal, announced earlier this year, values the National Grid subsidiaries that formerly owned and operated the terminal at £1.5 billion.

Great Britain has once again broken the record for the amount of wind power generated, just one month after the previous record was set. At 5:30pm on 5 December, wind generated 23,825MW of electricity, beating the maximum generation record of 22,711MW set on 11 November.

Autism remains an under-recognized and under-represented aspect of inclusivity conversations in geosciences. We highlight an urgent need for support and recognition of autistic learners, alongside a need to integrate autistic voices in learning and teaching practices.

Background Patients have difficulties accessing medications promptly following out-of-hours remote consultations when local pharmacies are closed. Delaying initiation of medications may turn a minor condition into a serious one with both clinical and economic implications. This is a particular problem in rural and socially deprived areas of Wales. One solution is a remotely controlled machine allowing medication supply to patients (REMEDY). This project will undertake a feasibility study of the impact of REMEDY machines in Dolgellau and Holyhead. Aims We will use the NASSS framework, within case study methodology, to undertake a feasibility study which aims to (1) explore whether such machines have the potential to improve access to medications during the out-of-hours period; (2) capture user experience in accessing and using the technology, including the fidelity of use, and feedback into machine and service developments; (3) examine the potential for patient harm arising from the use of the machine over standard methods of care; (4) provide a detailed description of the operationalisation of the machine in the out-of-hours context and develop methods and resources to optimise this for future rollout; and (5) inform methods for a future definitive study to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of implementing the REMEDY machine within the National Health Service (NHS) Wales out-of-hours system. Methods A mixed-methods feasibility study will be undertaken, guided by the NASSS framework, and health economic decision analytic modelling. Data sources will include qualitative (interviews with stakeholders, Out-of-Hours and NHS111 Wales staff, and patients and their carers; public meetings with local community members; documents (e.g. plans, business cases); ethnographic observation of REMEDY machine use), and quantitative (surveys of patients/carers; and routine data (e.g. items dispensed, machine logs, clinical data) data. The constant comparative method will be used for analysis of qualitative data, and descriptive statistics will be used to summarise quantitative data. Data collection will start in October 2025 with early insights fed back iteratively to support agile implementation. Discussion If the evaluation shows that the machine has the potential to improve access to medications and is acceptable to users, learning from this feasibility study will inform future research including the design of a definitive evaluation. Protocol registration ISRCTN 48012, Protocol date and version no. 04/09/2025 v10