The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The RCSEd has six faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical and healthcare specialities. Its main campus is located on Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, centred around the 18th century Surgeons' Hall. The campus includes Surgeons' Hall Museums, a medical and surgical library, a skills laboratory, a symposium hall, administrative offices and a hotel. A second UK office was opened in Birmingham in 2014^[1] and an international office opened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2018.^[2]

It is one of the oldest surgical corporations in the world and traces its origins to 1505 when the Barber Surgeons of Edinburgh were formally incorporated by the then Edinburgh Town Council by the granting of a seal of cause or charter.^[3]

RCSEd represents members and fellows across the UK and the world, spanning several disciplines, including surgery, dentistry, perioperative care, pre-hospital care, and remote, rural, and humanitarian healthcare. The majority of its UK members are based in England. Its membership includes those at all career stages from medical students to trainees, consultants, and those who have retired from practice.^[4]

The council is the governing body of RCSEd and represents the professional interests of the college membership. As a charitable organisation, the members of the council are also trustees of the college. The council comprises five office-bearers, 15 elected members, one trainee member, and the Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery.^[5]

In 1505, the Edinburgh Guild of Barbers and Surgeons was formally incorporated as a craft guild of the city,^[6] and this recognition is embodied in the Seal of Cause (or Charter of Privileges), which was granted to the Barber Surgeons by the Town Council of Edinburgh on 1 July 1505.^[7][8]

The Seal of Cause conferred various privileges and imposed certain important duties, the most important of these being that that every surgical master should have full knowledge of anatomy and surgical procedures and that surgical apprentices should be literate (a very unusual stipulation at that time). At the end of an apprenticeship, that the apprentice's knowledge was to be tested, by examination, which remains a core function of the RCSEd to the present and is still relevant to surgical practice.^[9] In 1722 the Barbers formally separated from the Surgeons' Incorporation by decree of the Court of Session to found the Society of Barbers of Edinburgh, which would exist until 1922.^[10][11] In 2005 RCSEd celebrated its quincentenary, having been in continuous existence for 500 years.^[7]

RCSEd aims to maintain and improved standards of surgical and dental practice by holding courses and educational programmes, through training and examinations, and by providing continuous professional development for trained surgeons and dentists. Through liaison with external medical bodies it aims to influence healthcare policy across the UK.^[4] RCSEd celebrated its quincentenary in 2005 with the opening of a new skills laboratory and conference venue, and the Ten Hill Place Hotel. In April 2014, the RCSEd opened a regional centre in Birmingham to cater for the 80% of its UK membership based in England and Wales^[12] and in 2018 opened an international office opened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[2]

To be admitted as a member of the RCSEd (MRCS), trainee surgeons are required to sit and pass Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) examinations, which are usually taken in the first or second years of surgical training. Since September 2008, the MRCS has become an intercollegiate examination, with a syllabus, format, and content common to all four surgical colleges in the British Isles (the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow).^[13] To become a fellow of the college the member must have successfully completed a defined period of higher surgical training, which varies according to speciality and must also have submitted a portfolio of operations performed and witnessed. The fellowship examination is conducted jointly by the four Surgical Royal Colleges (Edinburgh, England, Glasgow & Ireland), administered by the Joint Committee on Intercollegiate Examinations.^[14]

The college conducts a number of other examinations, including dental examinations and examinations in immediate medical care and sport and exercise medicine.^[14]

The RCSEd runs a large range of educational events and courses for professionals ranging from medical students interested in surgery, through to surgical trainees and consultant specialists. Many of these courses are held in the surgical skills laboratory in the Edinburgh campus but other are held around the UK and abroad.^[4]

Common courses (as at 2024) include:

• • Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons (NOTSS)^[15]
  • Training the Trainers: Trainer Development Course
  • Future Surgeons: Key Skills
  • Care of the Critically Ill Surgical Patient (CCrISP)
  • Foundation of Clinical Surgery
  • Dental Non-Technical Skills (DeNTS) Masterclass^[16]

The RCSEd offers distance-learning courses through its department of eLearning.

There are 6 faculties within the RCSEd.

The Surgeon is an academic peer-reviewed journal published jointly by the RCSEd and the RCSI. It publishes clinical and scientific articles in the fields of surgery and dentistry, and related specialities such as healthcare management and education.^[30]

Surgeons News is a quarterly magazine published by RCSEd for its membership. It contains comment, opinion, reviews and reports on subjects relevant to its members and fellows.^[31]

The RCSEd awards around £1 million of research grants each year, in addition to travelling grants to further career development.^[32]

The medals awarded by the RCSEd include:

• Hunter Doig Medal is awarded every second year to a female Fellow or Member of the RCSEd who demonstrates career potential and ambition.
• The Syme Medal is awarded to a fellow or member on the basis of a recently submitted thesis (MD or PhD), or published body of research.
• King James IV professorship is awarded in open competition to surgeons or dentists who have made a significant contribution to the clinical and/or scientific basis of surgery.^[33]

Surgeons Quarter (SQ) is the commercial arm of the RCSEd, which manages all commercial activities held within the RCSEd campus. Any surplus generated from its activities support the core aims of the RCSEd, education, training, assessment and research in surgery. SQ comprises six venues within the campus, the Playfair Building, the Quincentenary Conference Centre, the Symposium Hall, the Prince Philip Building, Ten Hill Place Hotel and Café 1505.^[34]

Surgeons' Hall Museum is open to the public and houses one of the largest collections of pathological artefacts in Britain.^[35] The museums date from 1699 and underwent major upgrading in 2015..^[36][37] Previous Conservators of the museums include the surgeons John Goodsir, Harry Goodsir, William Rutherford Sanders, James Bell Pettigrew, David Middleton Greig, and D. E. C. Mekie. Since 2001 the museum has been led by a trained museologist who is styled Director of Heritage, Directors have included Dawn Kemp, Chris Henry and Chanté St Clair Inglis.^[38]