Departmental structure
RCS England is currently divided into a number of directorates, some of which have sub-departments.
Find out more using the links below:
Resources
- HR
- Finance
- Building & Estates
- Facilities
- IT
- Purchasing
Learning & Quality
- Examinations
- Education
- Library & Surgical Information Services
- Museums & Archives
- Professional & Clinical Services (PCS)
Research
External Affairs
- Development
- Digital
- International Affairs
- Membership engagement
- Photographic
- Press and Public Affairs
- Publications
- Regional Team
Executive Directorate
Faculty of Dental Surgery (FDS)
Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK) (FGDP(UK))
"Project Transform"
Resources
HR
The Human Resources department is responsible for providing a comprehensive service to all levels of College staff to meet their employment and development needs.
Finance
The Finance department provides support to the College in all financial and accounting matters. This involves the preparation of financial and management accounts, treasury and fiscal management, the development of financial plans, the management of trust and investment income and the payment of salaries and suppliers.
Building & Estates
The Building and Estates department is responsible for the maintenance and improvement of the building and its associated services, and is also responsible for controlling and coordinating all building projects across the College. To satisfy these objectives we use a combination of our own in-house engineers working alongside specialist sub-contractors, aiming to provide a service that is effective, efficient and fully compliant at all times.
The department is also responsible for managing health and safety throughout the College, implementing audits and providing training and instruction for staff in safe working practice. In addition, it maintains statutory safety inspections on machinery such as lifts, electrical equipment and various essential life-preservation systems.
Facilities
The Facilities department is responsible for providing support services to ensure the College runs, working alongside the Building and Estates department.
The Facilities department manages
- Audio-Visual (AV)
- Catering and Cleaning
- Hotel, Conference and Reception
- Security, Porters and Post
The Audio-Visual (AV) team provides AV setup and support across the whole College for internal and external clients, from slideshows to full theatrical and ceremonial productions, and is able to provide high-definition audio and visual recording as well as live web streaming. It is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, and has received recognition at national industry awards.
The Facilities department manages the contracts for catering, cleaning, and porterage which are provided by established external partners who work alongside the College.
The Hotel, Conference facilities and main College reception have the responsibility of welcoming visitors and clients to the building, and ensuring that their time at the College is enjoyable, and runs without fault.
The Porters department is responsible for all security procedures as well as assisting with collecting and distributing post, customer assistance, setting up rooms for functions, and managing departmental office moves.
IT
The IT department provides a professional support service to enable the College to achieve maximum benefit from its technology, communication and information systems.
Learning & quality
Examinations
The Examinations department is responsible for delivering a wide range of dental and surgical examinations, working with over 1000 examiners (surgeons, dentists and specialists) and housing 22 staff, including the ICBSE (Intercollegiate Committee for Basic Surgical Examinations) office, with additional temporary staff during busy periods.
The ICBSE Office acts as the coordinator through which the Colleges work jointly to manage the development of the MRCS and DO-HNS examinations. It also manages the related question banks on behalf of, and in conjunction with, the four Royal Surgical Colleges and ensures the smooth running of the Intercollegiate Membership Examinations.
Education
The Education department delivers over 500 cutting-edge courses and e-learning programmes to over 11,000 participants every year. RCS England courses are run at over 120 regional and international training centres.
The department is privileged to work with over 2,500 faculty members, who share their experience and expertise to develop and deliver RCS courses and e-learning programmes. Faculty members voluntarily give up their time to attend and take part in the teaching on courses.
Thanks to generous contributions from donors, including The Margaret Witt Scholarship Fund for Clinical Excellence, Alban Barros D'Sa and the Worshipful Company of Needlemakers, RCS England is able to offer a range of education awards every year.
Library & Surgical Information Services
The Library and Surgical Information Services (LSIS) department provides the knowledge base for College diplomates, affiliates, exam candidates and staff, offering services and activities that support surgical and dental practice, research and continuing professional development. Its collections, which were awarded Designated Status by the Arts Council in 2013, also serve to meet the information needs of academic researchers and tell the story of surgery to public audiences.
Museums & Archives
The Museums and Archives Department includes the Hunterian Museum, the Wellcome Museum of Anatomy and Pathology and the College Archive collections.
The Hunterian Museum contains one of Britain’s greatest medical collections, covering the history of surgery and anatomy from the 17th century to the present. The Wellcome Museum of Anatomy and Pathology contains the College’s modern teaching collections. The College’s archive collections provide a unique resource illustrating the development of surgery and the surgical profession. This includes the College’s institutional records documenting the College’s activities throughout its history.
Professional & Clinical Services (PCS)
Professional and Clinical Standards develops and supports the implementation of standards around surgical services to enable providers and commissioners to deliver the best possible patient care. The regional infrastructure works to implement these priorities at a local level and provide a dialogue between the College and its membership in the regions.
Research
The Research department is responsible for administering the College’s Research Fellowship scheme, the Surgical Trials Initiative, and other awards to support surgeons whose research goal is to maintain and enhance patient care.The College exists to promote and protect the interests of patients by maintaining and enhancing professional standards in surgery. Fellows of the College have extended the frontiers of surgery through both clinical research and the development of new operative techniques.
External Affairs
Development
As a charity, the College relies heavily on voluntary income, grants and commercial sponsorship to maintain and expand its programmes in surgical research, education and training in the UK and overseas. The Development Office is charged with raising funds to support these initiatives.
Digital
The Digital Team manages the College’s websites, intranet and social media presence, ensuring that online services for members and the public are always available, easy to use and accurate. They advise on the adoption of advantageous technology and support all departments with digital publishing and moving services online.
Membership engagement
The Membership Engagement team runs the major activities supporting members and potential members. The team focuses on shaping the College’s relationship with its members, putting them at the centre of the organisation and strengthening its purpose so that surgeons are supported at every stage of their careers.
Press and Public Affairs
The press, policy, and public affairs team aim to influence Government, NHS England, and other external audiences, and communicate the College’s initiatives, to improve surgical patient care. They cover England as well as Wales, Northern Ireland, and EU policy. The team also provides the secretariat to the Patient and Lay Group (PLG).
Publications
The core work of the publications department is producing three periodicals: Annals, The Bulletin and the FDJ on behlaf of the Faculty of Dental Surgery. Annals is a peer-reviewed research journal with an international subscriber base, which publishes research, reviews and technical papers. The Bulletin is the RCS's professional magazine and is distributed to more than 20,000 RCS members and surgeons. It publishes feature articles, news, interviews, research, correspondence and political analysis. The Bulletin is produced entirely in-house, including editorial, commissioning, design and typesetting.
Executive Directorate
The Executive Directorate comprises the Directors of each area of the College and also includes the The Chief Executive's Office, which is the principal administration office and a busy, high-profile department. The Council Secretariat is based within the office and provides high quality administrative support to Board of Trustees - the governing body of the College, the College Council, its President and the Chief Executive.
The Board is comprised of 13 Trustees (four of whom are Lay Trustees), and Council is comprised of 26 elected Council Members, 10 SSA representatives and 8 invited representatives, the majority of whom are surgeons. Meetings are chaired by the President. The Secretariat also organises the College's AGM, and has a compliance role in relation to the College's bye-laws and other regulations.
Faculty of Dental Surgery
The Faculty of Dental Surgery is a small, friendly department based within the Royal College of Surgeons. In many respects the Faculty is a microcosm of the College in that it oversees the education, training and examination of dental surgeons. There are in the region of 26,000 dentists in the UK and the Faculty of Dental Surgery is concerned with those dentists who elect to train and work in specialised fields of dentistry, as opposed to general dental practice.
Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK) FGDP
The Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK) aims to positively influence oral health through education of the dental profession and the provision of evidence-based guidance. It does this through standards setting, providing education programmes and assessments, CPD, policy development, research, and publications. The FGDP(UK) supports the career development of both general dental practitioners (GDPs) and dental care professionals (DCPs) and recognises the value of an integrated dental team in modern dentistry.