Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons

MRCS is a professional qualification for surgeons in the UK and Ireland

It means Member of the Royal College of Surgeons.

There are 4 surgical colleges in the UK & Ireland:


 * The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
 * The Royal College of Surgeons of England
 * The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
 * The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Each college used to hold examinations independently, but latterly to a common syllabus. However, in January 2004, the four colleges switched over to a common examination, known as the Intercollegiate MRCS.

The separate qualifications used to be Fellowships (F.R.C.S.), but a new set of higher fellowships in specialised fields such as orthopaedics, urology, etc, has been set up to be taken at the end of Higher Surgical Training: this is now the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons.

The new M.R.C.S. is originally decided to be taken at the end of Basic Surgical Training. However in recent years interns are allowed to take certain parts of the examination.

This qualification should not be confused with the old M.R.C.S. which was paired with the L.R.C.P. to form the Conjoint diploma, a now defunct initial qualification in medicine.

Although this and many other Royal College membership and fellowship examinations appear to be designed for medical practice in Britain and Ireland, most of candidates are graduates from the Third World studying or working in the UK and Ireland, mostly with a view to returning abroad.

In response to this demand the colleges have begun to hold some of their examinations abroad.