My former husband David Brooks, who has died aged 86, was a GP in Manchester across four decades, and a trainer of GPs in the city for many of those years.
In addition David advised law firms on legal and medical matters, was a police doctor on custody cases and provided medical advice to the Library theatre company in Manchester for some of their productions, also giving flu jabs to actors before their Christmas productions. For some years he dispensed medical advice to callers on Natalie Anglesey’s Radio Manchester programme.
He was born in Hyde, Manchester, to parents of Irish descent, Jim, a railway guard, and Helen (nee Blake), who ran a tripe shop. After attending De la Salle grammar school in Salford he went on to study medicine at Manchester University.
In 1964, having become a doctor, David started out as a GP at the Peterloo Medical Centre in Middleton, Manchester, where he remained until his retirement in 1999. In the course of his career he was appointed regional adviser for GP training for the Manchester regional health district, and he was also responsible for the academic training of GP trainers.
With other trainers he frequently visited Kuwait, at the invitation of the government there, to help improve the standard of GP work throughout the country. He also toured India, examining standards in medical schools and writing many excellent articles about India and Indian medicine.
His thoughts on general practice were published in various medical journals, including in the Lancet, and for some years he was on the editorial board of the clinical journal Update. He was involved in the foundation of the GP Writers Association, which later became the Society of Medical Writers.
David and I met in 1989, and remained friends after an amicable divorce in 2001. A man with a big heart, he had a quality of kindness and decency that endeared him to all those who met him.
David is survived by his third wife, Diane, by five children, Stephen, Helen, Sarah, Jane and Phillip, from his first marriage, to Brenda, which ended in divorce, six stepchildren from his second and third marriages, and nine grandchildren.
