Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a surgeon in the British Isles. 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.
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.
The Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons
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 of London, so thousands of doctors have "MRCS, LRCP" in place of or in addition to "MB BS", etc, without being specialised in surgery.
Useful Links:
The Royal College of Surgeons of England
The Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland
The Royal College of Surgeon of Edinburgh
