Patients with schizophrenia on conventional antipsychotics may benefit from a switch to an atypical antipsychotic if they are experiencing unacceptable side‐effects. Here, Dr Crockett and Dr Goldstein present the results of their clinical review of outpatients with a reported diagnosis of schizophrenia attending a depot clinic in WestYorkshire to address whether those patients on typical antipsychotic depot preparations were receiving optimum treatment. Copyright © 2008 Wiley Interface Ltd