Timeline

The first Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians (MRCP) exams are held overseas. Candidates are examined in Cairo, Egypt and Poona, India, due to the war.

The National Health Service (NHS) is launched, with many fellows and members taking up key roles. The president of the College at the time, Lord Moran, is instrumental in shaping the new state healthcare system. The majority of the College’s members continue to work within the NHS.

Modernist architect Denys Lasdun is appointed to build a new College building. This is an unusual decision for an institution with over 400 years of history and tradition. It signals a new forward-looking focus for the College.

The College publishes Smoking and health, highlighting the dangers of smoking in an authoritative and evidence-based report. The response to this report both from the public and the medical profession is unprecedented. It sells 33,000 copies and is republished worldwide in many languages. In the UK, cigarette sales start to fall, and many smokers switch to less harmful filtered brands.

The new College premises is opened at 11 St Andrews Place, Regent’s Park. It becomes an iconic building and a showcase for modernist architecture.

For more information about the Regent's Park building, please click here to watch a short film clip.

A part 1 MRCP(UK) exam is created. The MRCP is previously offered separately by three Royal Colleges of Physicians; Edinburgh, Glasgow and London. They agree to share a common examination in general medicine: Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom Diploma, or MRCP(UK).

The Joint Committee for Higher Medical Training is created. The JCHMT sets and maintains the standards for high-quality UK medical training on behalf of the three Royal Colleges of Physicians.

A part 2 MRCP(UK) exam is also created in this year, furthering the partnership between the three colleges.

The College is now starting to call itself the Royal College of Physicians (RCP).

Dame Sheila Sherlock (pictured) becomes the first female Harveian orator, giving the speech at this annual dinner which has been held since William Harvey’s gift of an estate to support the work of the College in 1656.

Dame Margaret Turner-Warwick becomes the first female president.

‘Modernising Medical Careers’ is introduced. This is a major reform in recruitment, training and education for postgraduate doctors. A demonstration march opposed to the changes begins at the RCP. Ian Gilmore, the president at the time, says: ‘The profession was immobilised by fear and rage in a way that I don’t think has happened in the decade before or the decade after.'

In response, the RCP sets up the Specialty Recruitment Office in 2008 to coordinate national recruitment for physicians on behalf of the Department of Health. Initially starting with core medical training in England, this has grown to include ACCS (acute care common stem) acute medicine and 24 specialties for higher medical training across the UK.