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We conducted a two‐part study to assess the practice of withholding neuromuscular blockade until the ability to ventilate the lungs using a bag and face mask (mask ventilation) has been established following induction of anaesthesia. The first part of the study consisted of a postal survey (71% response rate) of 188 anaesthetists in the Oxford region to assess their current practice. Thirty per cent of respondents always checked mask ventilation before administering a neuromuscular blocking drug, whereas 39% of respondents (all them consultants) never did this. A further 31% only did so in the case of known or anticipated difficulty with the airway. In the second part of the study, we measured inspired (V_TI) and expired (V_TE) tidal volumes before and after neuromuscular blockade in 30 patients undergoing general anaesthesia. The ratio V_TE/V_TI was used as a measure of the efficiency of ventilation. There was no …