[citation needed] Traditionally in British hospital practice, "casualty departments" were staffed and led mainly by non-consultant doctors with surgical backgrounds.

The first UK doctor to be designated as a "Consultant Surgeon in Charge of the Casualty Department and Receiving Room" was Maurice Ellis, who was appointed at Leeds General Infirmary in 1952.

[citation needed] In late 2005, FAEM reached agreement with BAEM for the two organizations to merge to form a new medical royal college.

CEM and BAEM formally merged in February 2008, with the new organisation continuing under the name of "College of Emergency Medicine", but incorporated by a royal charter giving it its own legal status.

Dr Clifford Mann was president of the College 2013–2016, and was an outspoken critic of the Coalition government's Health and Social Care Act 2012 which he blamed both for causing "decision-making paralysis" and leaving the country short of around 375 emergency doctors.

In 2003 the College introduced an introductory examination, now the preferred route of entry to specialist registrar training, the Membership of the Faculty of A&E Medicine (MFAEM).