Fellowship of The Royal College of Surgeons - Mister or Doctor?

Mister or Doctor?

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 learnt 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 practise.

Today almost all surgeons, 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 to the prefix they used before qualifying. Within the medical profession in the United Kingdom this is a recognised mark of distinction.