OBJECTIVES: The Schizophrenia Care and Assessment Program (SCAP) is a prospective observational study established in the US and Australia to comprehensively measure characteristics of care for schizophrenia patients in actual clinical practice while comparing a wide range of clinical, humanistic, and economic outcomes among older and newer medications. A feasibility study was conducted to investigate the potential for adapting SCAP to Western European countries and to determine appropriate study design. METHODS: The feasibility study was carried out in several countries in Europe and included (1) interviews with providers and planners of healthcare in national associations of psychiatrists, medical associations and national and regional government (2) literature searches on a range of aspects and outcomes of schizophrenia and (3) interviews to assess the key operational aspects of conducting a SCAP study in representative clinical sites. RESULTS: The feasibility study indicated that a UK-SCAP would capture the treatment and budgetary issues raised by UK prescribers and administrators. The wide range of outcomes assessments in SCAP (including sociodemographics, clinical status and treatments, functional status, general health status, quality of life, resource utilisation and carer burden) will distinguish the study and complement data from clinical trials. UK-SCAP will enroll approximately 600 inpatients and outpatients (limited exclusion criteria) from late-1999 and will follow this cohort for 3 years. The primary outcomes measurement tools will be the SCAP instrument, developed from items derived from established measures and validated in the US SCAP study. CONCLUSION: It is important to complement information from randomized clinical trials with information from "real life" settings. As new drug therapies have shown promise for improved treatment of schizophrenia, more research is needed to understand the clinical, humanistic, and economic opportunities of these therapies. Submitted to ECNP Conference, London, September 1999