Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a surgeon in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. It is bestowed by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (chartered 1784), Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (chartered 1505), and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow though strictly the unqualified initials refer to the London College. Several Commonwealth countries have similar qualifications, among them the FRCSC in Canada, FRACS in Australia and New Zealand, FCS(SA) in South Africa, FCSHK in Hong Kong.
The original fellowship was available in general surgery and in certain specialties - ophthalmic or ENT surgery, or obstetrics and gynaecology - which were not indicated in the initials. It came to be taken mid-way through training.
There are now a range of higher fellowships, taken at the end of higher specialist training and often in narrower fields, the first of which was FRCS (Orth) in orthopaedics. Others include FRCS (Urol) in urology and FRCS (OMFS) in maxillofacial surgery.
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To avoid confusion, the original fellowship was renamed to either membership MRCS or associate fellowship (AFRCS). Unfortunately this introduced a new confusion, as the Royal Colleges also held qualifying examinations in medicine, after which most of them awarded licentiate diplomas (LRCP, LRCS, etc). However the Royal College of Surgeons of England used to award its membership at this level, in conjunction with the Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians.
Holders of FRCS (and the new, but not old, Membership - MRCS) often choose for traditional reasons to relinquish their title of "Doctor", reverting to "Mr", "Mrs" or "Miss".
Until relatively recently the training as a surgeon was through an apprenticeship. At the end of which, if they had learn their trade in a large city, they were examined and given a diploma, while physicians from the middle ages had to hold a university degree in medicine before they could practice.[1]
Today almost all surgeons,[2] who are members of the Royal College, must first qualify as a Dr. of medicine and then undergo further postgraduate study and training through junior posts before they qualify as a surgeon. At that point many choose to stop prefixing their name with Dr. and revert the the prefix they used before qualifying. Within the medical profession in the United Kingdom this is a recognised mark of distinction.[1]
Original 300 Fellows of The Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS).